Knights and Fires
by Musicture
Summary: Who knew that dragons were actually real? This knight didn't, and now she's stuck in a cave with a dragon, its servants, a prince, and, of course, secrets.
1. Unforseen Consequences

She hadn't expected anything to be in the cave. Her stay in the cave had originally been planned to be a simple overnight stay - when one was a mercenary knight, there wasn't always a guaranteed shelter at the end of the day, so one had to simply make-do. And what Brusli was doing was exactly that. She only had a knapsack and her armor on her, and a canteen of water inside the sack. She was running low on food - well, hell, she was out of food, honestly - and had been eating cooked lizards every night for the past week. Crispy desert lizards were not high on Brusli's list of "things that are actually fun to eat." In fact, they were probably one of the last things on said list.

She'd "set up camp," which really was just her taking off her armor and using the inside of one of the pieces as an uncomfortable pillow while she lay on the rocky floor of the cave, a dim campfire lit just feet away from her face. It was getting to be cold, near fall or winter, and nights in the desert certainly weren't very warm. Which, she figured, was really stupid, because why have something be so hot during the day then? It was a waste of heat. She could use some of that heat right now. The metal of her armor had faded away as night overcame the land and coolness settled in. Brusli shivered. It was cold, but she would survive, for now at least.

Brusli had gotten a little sleep when she'd heard it, or at least she thought she'd slept a little. A rumble like a lion's woke Brusli up, and when she opened her eyes the fire was dying and it was just a little colder than it had been before. The rumble had startled Brusli into sitting up and looking around, actually looking for a lion or big mammal of some sort before remembering that she was in the desert. And, as far as she knew, there were barely any kind of mammals in the desert. Though, there were lizards and scorpions, but those weren't mammals.

Still, she felt disturbed. She reached for her knapsack and, thankfully, found it there undisturbed. She pulled out her canteen, taking a swig of water before recapping it and putting it away. Normally, she would be worried about depleting her only source of water, but cactuses, she found, stored water inside of them. All she had to do was punch the hilt of her sword through a cactus and put her opened canteen underneath the water flow. She'd overheard some other knights talking about it and decided to try it. Also, apparently, cactus was edible, as long as she didn't eat the spiky parts, obviously.

After putting her canteen away, she lay down again, trying to get back to the arguably peaceful rest she'd had prior to waking up, but finding it hard. Somehow, she must have settled down enough to fall asleep, because the next time she woke up, she was actually warm. And also weirdly moist, like she was in a warm mist. She stirred, blinking her eyes open at what was now the ashy remains of what had been her fire. She sighed, squinting in the dark. Why was it so warm? It wasn't even dawn yet. She froze when a puff of warm air forced its way down onto her. Like something was breathing on her.

Brusli immediately sat up, starting to turn around to look. As it ended up, that was a bad move for her, because something big and scaly immediately wrapped itself around her. A snake?! Brusli wouldn't think a snake of that size would inhabit anywhere on this planet, but she guessed that snakes could be that big. Something sharp from the snake-like creature dug into her skin - damnit, if she survived this, was she going to have to start sleeping in her armor?! Something large pressed into her cheek and she wasn't able to turn her head to see it.

A large rumble filled the cave. "What are you doing in my cave."

Oh god, it could _talk_.

"Uh-uh-I, uh-" Brusli stumbled over her words as gracefully as a duck crash-diving into a pond, "Sleeping."

She was so good at words, wasn't she?

No, she wasn't. But talking wasn't supposed to be a part of the job. She killed and got paid. That was all.

She was lifted off of the ground by whatever creature was holding her; she'd since figured out that what was wrapped around her must be a claw. Her heart trembled in her chest. Shit, she was probably going to die. What would she tell her sister? Wait, no, she wouldn't tell her shit, she'd be _dead_! She jerked back when the giant creature laughed, the laugh barely a laugh but more of a chuckly rumble that echoed through the cave.

"You _sleep_ in the cave that you're planning to _murder_ me in?"

Brusli might just murder a bitch if this thing didn't let go of her. Oh, who was she kidding, she was terrified and shaking horribly. A bright puff of fire lit up the cave, and Brusli's eyes followed it to a torch on the wall. The rock wall around it was black from being scorched so frequently. The torch lit up enough of the cave that Brusli was able to look forward and see exactly what was holding her. With sharp yellow eyes and glossy rust-colored scales, in front of her sat a giant, god damn, dragon.

She'd never believed in dragons before this. Now she did.

"Wh-Wh?" Brusli was surprised nonetheless. "I-I thought that the cave was empty-"

"Oh _sure_ you did, you probably just figured that I'd be an easy kill, sleeping the night away and planning on chopping my head off while I slept during the day, well-"

"I didn't even believe in dragons before this-!"

" _Sure_ \- wait, seriously?"

Brusli would have crossed her arms if she could have. She frowned, wriggling in the dragon's claws. "Seriously! I was just trying to sleep! I was going to leave in the morning and wouldn't have ever even known you were here."

The dragon looked at her with its sharp eyes, and then grinned wickedly. "One thing I must say, is that you knights are _horrible_ liars."

"I swear I'm not-!" Brusli was silenced as the dragon squeezed the breath out of her. As soon as the dragon's claws relaxed around her, Brusli was gasping deeply for breath.

"Save your breath, _knight_ , all that comes out are lies." Brusli was whisked away from her small camp, the dragon purposefully stomping on all of her belongings with its foot. Her metal armor that she'd worked hard to save up for was immediately crushed underfoot. The knapsack had been something that her sister had specially made for her. Her heart dropped in her chest and she had to look away.

Now she was vulnerable with no belongings or armor, and her sister had no idea where she was. Every time that Brusli left home, there was no guarantee that she'd return, but still, the job wasn't that dangerous, usually she was just taking care of mischievous imps that wanted payoff to leave townspeople alone, or hardly dangerous wolves that just wanted food, things that were actually _manageable_ and that towns people just didn't want to take care of by themselves. Things that people were willing to pay to get done because they were nuisances. It wasn't a high-paying job, but Brusli made more under the guise of being a male knight than she did as a servant at a castle. Though, no offense to her sister, who had become a servant. At least she had a stable home.

Brusli didn't bother trying to talk to the beast again, instead putting forth the brainstorming power to try and figure out how to escape. Obviously, she wouldn't escape from the dragon's claw. Her stomach seemed to drop, like her heart had earlier, giving her the worst case of anxious butterflies. Was the dragon going to eat her? What was it going to do with her? She cast a glance at the dragon. It didn't bother looking at her, instead clambering deeper into its cave with its two back legs and front leg whilst holding the knight. Brusli didn't know if she could call herself a knight, however, without her armor. It'd be a long time before she could get more armor, surely all of the coins she'd had were crushed by the dragon. Who knew if she'd ever see them again. She'd worked so hard, damnit.

The cave drew pitch dark and Brusli wasn't able to see anything, just feel the dragon's claws around her tighten and untighten. The dragon stopped. Brusli had absolutely no sense of her surroundings, so it was even more jarring when she was suddenly shoved into, well, something that had a hard floor. Metal clanged against each other and then she was free falling for a moment, before hitting the floor hard. Something, or someone, toppled on top of her, groaning. Brusli wheezed, immediately shoving whatever it was off and trying to scoot backwards as far as she could until she felt cold metal against her back. She must have been in some kind of cage, then. Where would a dragon even obtain a cage?! 

Then again, a dragon was a dragon, and that particular dragon was probably big enough to obtain whatever it felt like.

"Wh- Hello?" Another voice asked. Brusli squinted at the dark. She couldn't see anything.

"Uh- Uh, hey?" She didn't know who or what was there with her, but she also was slightly comforted that at least she wasn't going to die alone.

"Oh- Oh hello uh, uh I'm Conrad, are you alright?"

This Conrad was strangely nice. If it was her… well, she wasn't sure what she would be doing, but she wouldn't sound that kind.

"I'm, uh, Brusli, yeah I'm fine um the dragon um, stepped on all my stuff-" She trembled a little, still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that dragons are actually real. She'd always thought that it was stupid dumb lore for children. She guessed that the dragon wouldn't enjoy that particular thought. Brusli frowned and thought, dragons are also stupid and dumb. There. Payback.

She wished.

"Oh, yeah uh, she does that. Were you trying to kill her? She doesn't really like people doing that, you're lucky she didn't just eat you right away."

"I wasn't doing _anything_! I was _asleep_!"

"Were you, uh, planning on killing her…?"

"No! I was planning on going along on my merry way after I woke up in the morning! Not ending up probably dying in some stupid dragon's cave! I didn't even believe in dragons before this!"

"Well- wait, seriously?"

" _Seriously_! Why is that so hard to believe?!"

Brusli couldn't see the man, but she had the feeling he was raising his hands in a defensive pose. "Okay, okay, calm down please…"

Brusli huffed, looking down at her lap. Her eyes only slightly adjusted to the dark. This wasn't regular darkness, this was _advanced_ darkness. "It's kind of hard to calm down when you're probably going to die."

"Okay, well, yeah, that's fair."

"Why are you in here anyways? Are you a knight too?"

"Um, no haha, I'm a prince."

Brusli's cheeks flushed. Ah, jeeze, she could probably end up dead for talking to a prince like that. So, that was pretty great, if she didn't die from a dragon chomping down on her, she could probably look forward to being beheaded for being rude. Ugh. Life was hard.

"Oh-! I'm sorry, ugh I was really rude, I'm sorry-" Brusli fumbled with her words, apologizing in a less-than-graceful way. This was also probably why she hadn't become a servant like her sister. Although working with royalty could be cool, she guessed, she'd probably accidentally end up dropping an f-bomb on someone and getting executed.

Conrad, the prince, laughed. It wasn't necessarily a light-hearted laugh, but more of a soft and nervous chuckle, akin to one that Brusli might let out in an awkward situation. She felt like she knew this guy a little bit better already.

"It's fine, please don't worry about it. It's not like I would have been super polite and calm after being dropped in here the first time, either." His voice had a smiley sound to it.

"The 'first time'?" Brusli asked.

"Oh, yeah, this is probably my fifth time she's kidnapped me."

"Your _fifth_? Also, 'she'?"

"Yeah! Ah, Sarlla uh, that's her name, the dragon, I guess, has an affinity for me or something. Did I mention she has servants? One of them makes me, uh, really… uncomfortable." Brusli heard Conrad fumble around with, assumedly, his shirt.

Sarlla… A pretty name, Brusli thought. Shame that it was a dragon's name. She, the dragon, was kind of an asshole. Brusli relaxed a little in the cage. She blinked in the dark, turning her head towards the bars, and then sticking her hand out, carefully. Her hand hit a wall. She cautiously patted the wall, and then felt parts of it crumble away. She brought her hand up to her face, silently sniffing a little. Okay, so there was a dirt wall around the cage. The dragon must of had some kind of hole in the ground that she'd dropped the cage into. That made Brusli feel a little better, that the dragon wasn't right next to the cage watching them, but also made her nervous. The dragon could, at any time, drop a chunk of dirt into the hole and suffocate them both. She could only hope that Conrad's attractiveness to the dragon would save them both from being killed, just because the dragon was bored with them or something.

Well, if Brusli wasn't killed, first.

"Uh…" Brusli dusted her hand off. Hopefully the prince wasn't so accustomed to the dark that he saw her sniffing dirt on her hand. She would probably die from embarrassment, right there and then. "She has servants? The dragon, I mean."

"Yeah uh, they're not quite human but they're, like, not quite, uh… well, you'll probably see."

"Not quite human? What do you mean by that?"

"Weeeell, they're kind of, uh, scaley people!"

"What."

"Like uh, if you took a snake and had it make babies with a human, and then they-"

"For fuck's sake just tell me what they look like."

"Oh, uh, they're kinda reptile people I guess."

Brusli furrowed her brows. She couldn't quite imagine what reptile people would look like. Of course, she'd met magical creatures, and figured that they must be the same. She had met a mermaid once, she had been, uh, heh, really pretty. Brusli blushed in the dark.

"Okay, so…" Brusli fiddled with her thumbs. "How do we get out?"

"Oh, we don't."

"Come on, there's got to be a way out. Have you tried the cage door?"

"No."

"Have you tried...bending the bars…"

"No…"

"Have you….tried….escaping….at all….?"

"...No…."

"Fucking hell, you've been kidnapped _five_ times? And you never tried to escape?!" 

"Hey, I just kind of go with the flow, y'know…"

"And _I_ just kind of try not to _fucking die_." Brusli stood up in the cage, and then found out that, unfortunately, the cage was smaller than she was tall. She rubbed her head, cursing under her breath and stooping. The dragon couldn't have bothered to get a bigger cage? Fucking hell, Brusli wasn't that tall to begin with, it couldn't be that hard to get a bigger cage than that. She grumbled to herself, going around the cage and jiggling the bars until she found she door.

Conrad, assumedly, watched her go around the cage, only barely able to see her form. Brusli, however, was not able to barely see shit, let alone Conrad. She found the latch on the cage, only briefly pausing to wonder how the dragon got its fatass claw to lock that teeny-tiny latch, and then unlocked it, pushing open the cage door. And…

The cage door barely opened. It bumped against the dirt wall around the cage. Brusli, however, was slim enough to fit through the small gap between the door and the cage. "Hey, Mister Prince, I got the door open, c'mon."

Conrad stood, not necessarily excitedly but more at an average rate of standing, like one casually standing up from an arm chair on a lazy Sunday morning. He walked over to the cage door, casually, and at a frustratingly casual pace. Brusli almost wanted to throttle the cage with him in it. Jiggle him around a little. Get him to speed it up. She saw him, finally, as he came closer - like, a foot away from her. And then, she saw the problem. There was no way that he was getting through the cage door, because, well, to put it gently, he wasn't quite as slim as her. Brusli groaned.

"If I had my sword we could shave some skin off and get you through."

"Um, no thank you…"

Brusli crossed her arms, thinking. She looked past Conrad into the dark, only vaguely able to see the wall at the other side. There wasn't much room anywhere between the cage and the wall, and she doubted the few extra inches she'd be able to open the door would be worth pushing the cage up against the wall. Brusli took ahold of a cage bar, delusioning herself for a moment that she was strong enough to bend the bars. She tried to bend the bar. She wasn't strong enough to bend the bar.

However, she did realize that the bar was kind of loose. As were, she realized, all the others. She'd never been in a cage before, but she had once seen a monkey get loose after unscrewing a bar and escaping. Clever monkey. She then, vaguely, realized that she was also a monkey in this situation, and felt faintly insulted. Insulted by who? Life, she guessed.

Brusli started twisting the bar, with the prince looking at her with a confused expression. Instead of explaining the slightly insulting monkey memory, she told him, "The bars unscrew. Help me unscrew some to get you out."

Conrad began to help unscrew bars, though not without questioning her. "Um, once I do get out, how are we going to get out of the hole?"

"We climb."

"No offense, but, uh, I'm a prince. I don't, uhh, exercise much. Because I don't need to."

"Well you're gonna get some exercise now."

The prince quietly whined. This was also another reason why Brusli didn't work with royalty. They were whiney. Very, very whiney. She felt a little disdain. Then, she felt a little proud, like she was a stereotypical knight in a stereotypical children's fantasy book. Slay the dragon, save the princess - er, prince. She wasn't going to kiss him though or live happily ever after. She'd probably just collect whatever reward his family was offering, maybe. And then visit her sister a visit! Royal families paid a lot, but, as she mentioned to herself before, they were annoying as hell to work with.

Once they got enough bars down, Conrad slipped through, pressing up against the dirt. He whined, again, presumably, at the dirt. Brusli clambered on top of the cage, and then reached her hands down for the prince to take.

"Where'd you go, I can't see you…"

"I'm up here."

"Where…"

"Right here."

"I don't see you…"

Brusli papped his face with her hands. "I'm right here. Take my hands and I'll help you up."

It wasn't too hard to get Conrad up. The only thing hard about it was that Conrad wasn't trying very hard to get on top of the cage, and Brusli was trying really hard to help him. After a bunch of groaning and sweating, Brusli finally helped Conrad scrape over the edge and on top of the cage. They both lay on top, panting uncomfortably and sweating like they'd just had some hardcore intercourse. The prince tried to quietly and awkwardly make a joke about it, but Brusli quickly shut him down, sitting up even quicker.

"Okay, now we just need to get out. How tall is the hole?"

Conrad whined. "Climbing is really hard, I couldn't even barely get up here…"

Brusli almost snapped at the prince, but instead, covered her face and sighed. "We'll get out. Who knows if the dragon will eat you or not."

"Um well, her name's Sarlla, first of all, and I dunno, she'll probably just kidnap me again if we escape…"

"Speaking of which, have you escaped in the past, Conrad? How has she kidnapped you five times?"

"Uh, well, usually a knight will come and save me and she'll eat the knight and let me run off."

Brusli stared at him. Conrad seemed to sense her staring, and then nervously laughed. "Not that my family sent you, right?"

"I don't even know your family."

Conrad sighed, relieved. "Well, I can probably reason with her then. I wonder where my knight is? Maybe my family gave up on me, haha…"

Brusli felt uncomfortable, and quickly changed subject. "Let's just get out. Who's your family, anyways? I'm not really familiar with your name." She paused. "Then again, I've never really paid attention to royalty names. Just their last names, I guess, so I know who to avoid."

"Uhhh, Renals."

"Awe, for real? My sister works for you."

"Oh...cool…" He didn't sound super interested. Or, maybe he was distracted.

Brusli stood up, standing on her tip-toes and leaning against the wall. Instead of falling onto the wall, Brusli "EEP"ed as she tumbled over the edge of the hole. Apparently it hadn't been as tall as she'd thought. She trembled, just for a second, before grumbling and tugging her legs up and over the edge. She looked down at Conrad, who looked alarmed. Or, she was pretty sure what that expression was.

"You okay?"

"The hole's not that tall. Literally just stand up and lean over."

"That's kind of a lot of work though…"

"Fucking get out of the hole this instant before I get a makeshift sword and shove it up your ass!"

He got up and out pretty quickly.

"Uh...What next...Mister Knight…"

Brusli felt a little flustered at being referred to as "mister," but quickly waved it away. "Uh, next, we try and get out. Keep your voice down and let's try not to bump into the dragon…"

Of course, just because Brusli had said that, the very next thing she did was bump into something large, scaley, warm, and most certainly a dragon. A puff of fire lit up the cave, for a brief instant, also lighting up the dragon's eyes in a scary way that would probably be in Brusli's nightmares for a while in the future.

"Bump into _who_?"

Brusli stammered, and then turned around, quickly, making a grab for Conrad's hand and starting to run with him. Conrad didn't seem in too much of a hurry, but he ran along anyways, probably used to this scenario, Brusli realized. However, he proved too slow of a runner for the both of them, and Brusli wasn't about to let go of his hand. The dragon's large, giant claw wrapped around Brusli, painfully pinning her arms to her sides and ripping her away from Conrad, who Brusli urged to run on and escape. Conrad didn't seem very impressed with her terrified heroics, and instead, sighed and sat down on the ground. That bitch. That motherfucker.

She was going to die and he wouldn't even try to save himself. Did she have to literally lead him all the way out and to the kingdom for the fuck to have any sense of self-preservation?

Brusli was brought up close to the dragon's face, uncomfortably close, to the point that if she wanted to, she could probably guess what the dragon had eaten last based on the smell and taste of its breath. Brusli's guess was dead human. Or, at least, that's probably what it was going to eat next.

"Heeeey little knight," the dragon teased, apparently very consciously aware of how close Brusli was and how hard she was trying not to breathe in the dragon's breath. "Trying to escape with my prince, huh?"

Brusli had no smart or sassy comeback. She was, admittedly, pants-shittingly scared. Well, not that she actually did shit her pants or anything. Maybe if she'd had a shit to give? But she didn't. She had lived on crisp lizards for the past few weeks, and those did not yield very high shits. Instead, she trembled like a fall leaf in the wind inside of the dragon's, Sarlla's, hand, staring up at the dragon in the dark. The cave rumbled as the dragon's tail hit the ground and she blew flames right over Brusli's head at another torch on the wall. Unlike the previous torch that Brusli had seen, the stone around this one was not quite as blackened.

"Well, I guess this is the point where I kill you now, any last words? Before I eat you and taste how delicious your fear is, of course."

Brusli stammered, ashamed that she was even trying to _think_ of some kind of witty last words to say, instead of trying to figure out how to escape.

The prince sighed. "Sarlla, he didn't come to save me. Please stop scaring him."

"Him? Who's 'him'?"

"Uh, the knight?"

Brusli winced as the dragon stuck its snout into her face, taking a deep and long whiff. She squeezed her, the breath being crushed out of her, and then relaxed her claw.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's a girl. Are you a girl? Or a guy? Or neither~?"

"Uh- Uh-" Brusli was too terrified and shaken up to reply. Sarlla huffed.

"Boring. You're boring, that's what you are."

Suddenly, Brusli was dropped, and she landed hard on her ass. Even though her lungs were not in her ass, the rock-to-ass collision knocked the wind out of her. She ended up flat on her back, dazed and breathless, and not in the fun way. Conrad hurried to Brusli, leaning over her and kneeling down and worrying over her. Oh, sure, now he worried. It couldn't of killed him to worry about _escaping_ , ooooh _no,_ he had far too many other princely needs for _that_.

"I-I'm fine, I'm fine," Brusli groaned quietly, coughing because, ow, and sitting up. She was lucky she hadn't hit her head on the rocky cave floor. Despite her allegations, Conrad kept a hand on her back and helped her sit up.

"Sarlla you can't just drop people like that! They aren't rocks!"

"Ohh whatever, she survived, didn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess _he_ did, but still!"

"God, I'm a girl okay," Brusli mumbled. "What a stupid thing to argue over." She could feel the embarrassment radiate off of Conrad in waves. She glanced at him. "Don't even worry about it, I'm supposed to look like a man, I get paid better." The embarrassment was toned down a few notches, but still was sensible.

Brusli could also very much sense waves of prideful "I told you so"ness from the dragon, even if it didn't say anything. She scooted backwards a little, hands and arms and legs trembling with fear and adrenaline. The dragon seemed to enjoy that, pushing her head forward and smiling, showing off her teeth. Conrad, the blubbery pansy, slapped the dragon's snout. Not hard, but it had the same effect. Sarlla drew her head back in confusion, and Conrad frowned at her.

"Stop it Sarlla! You've scared her enough, just chill out already!"

Brusli wasn't sure about the prince's and the dragon's relationship. Maybe it was just better to leave the prince with the dragon, they seemed to tolerate and communicate with each other. They had a better relationship with each other than Brusli, personally, had with the dragon currently. Escape was still on her mind, but in the end, she decided that she would feel horrible leaving the prince behind. Horrible and cowardly. If she did that, she wouldn't deserve to be a knight. She stared at Conrad and Sarlla, fists clenched and trembling against the small pebbles on the floor.

"Jeeze, sorry, I was just trying to show off…"

"You were gonna eat her!"

"True, but I thought she was one of your knights! You know I like to have fun with your knights."

"You like to _eat_ them."

"True! And have fun!"

"Just leave her alone Sarlla, please?"

The dragon rumbled in, what Brusli assumed, her own whiney fashion and flopped down onto the ground, shaking the cave a little and causing rock particles to trickle from the ceiling. "Cooonraaad…"

"Please?"

The dragon whined again in its rumbly way, covering its snout with a paw. "Fffffiiiiine. You gotta take care of her, though, I only have enough resources for _one_ kidnapee. Of course, if that's too much responsibility, I can always eat her~"

"No, I'll take care of her, Sarlla."

"Ugh, fine." The dragon got up, shaking itself like a dog or wolf might. Brusli squinted at her, not really wanting to be anywhere near her, but also fascinated. Was this what all dragons were like? If so, Brusli would make doubly sure never to cross paths with one again. No more caves for her. Just forests and nagas and imps and dumb wolves that liked cuddles and crispy squirrels. The dragon turned and began making its way down the cave, its tail swaying like Brusli had seen mountain cats' do before. A very fascinating, scary, and also interesting creature, indeed.

As soon as the dragon was gone, Brusli heard claws scuffing against stone. Not big claws, like Sarlla's, but smaller claws, like the aforementioned mountain cats were walking around in the cave. Brusli sat up straight and Conrad's expression soured. "Come on, let's find the soft room before they get here."

"Before who gets here?"

"Before-"

"HEEEEEY Mister Priiiince~"


	2. Gay Meat-Sharing

Conrad groaned, and Brusli's attention was drawn to a rather small looking, eh, lizard man. Boy? Man? It kind of had a perky chest, like a younger boy might. Brusli felt uncomfortable as the lizard creature bounced over, its clawed feet scuffing against the rock. Scales traveled up its legs and thighs and abdomen, scattering about the sickly pale human skin that wrapped its shoulders up to its face. It had lizard eyes, with slit pupils that studied everything about Brusli and felt, for lack of better words, very invasive. The creature smirked. Short, black, smoky hair wisped around its face and ears, and its tail swayed back and forth as Sarlla's had done.

"What do you want, Lobran?"

"I heard that Sarlla had some new, heh, _preeey_."

Brusli immediately had disdain for the creature's voice. She would call it annoyingly grating, but although annoying, its voice lacked the scratchy quality of grating, instead providing a smooth texture to the ears that was somehow even more annoying than if it had just been like taking nails to a board. She grimaced at the creature as it suavely asked her her name.

"My name's Brusli. I kill things."

"Oho! A _knight_ , Sarlla's always _loooved_ knights. She loves the texture of their metal on her tongue, ohhh hohoh."

Brusli decided, right there, that this was the kind of creature that deserved a lovely metal-textured sword straight up its ass. She stared, squinting, at the creature as it touched its, ugh, lips with a clawed finger, tilting its head in a charming manner.

"Aren't you going to ask me my name?"

Brusli jabbed a thumb at Conrad. "This fucker already said it."

"Oh, boo, you're so rude." Even though Brusli didn't ask him to, the lizard thing did a grand, suave bow and looked up, smiling. "I'm Lobran, thank you for not asking."

"I know."

"Booo." Lobran stood up straight. He seemed to have a fine taste for theatrics and, if Brusli had to guess, he'd do well at fine dancing. "Well, even though Sarlla didn't ask me to, I know that she'll expect me to bring you both something to eat."

Brusli wrinkled her nose. "It's the middle of the night."

"Hunger knows no time, love." Lobran smiled at her charmingly and did a fancy twist before walking off, presumably, to fetch her and Conrad food.

Brusli leaned over. "I can see why you don't like him, now."

Conrad nodded. "He's so… invasive, with his… _everything_."

"You know, if you'd told me that before, I would have been really confused. But now, I understand." Brusli stood up, her trembles having left with Sarlla. Now she was just tired and vaguely annoyed. "What's stopping us from escaping?"

Conrad whined. "What's the poiiint…"

"The point is, y'know, not dying!"

Conrad looked at her with a very whiney expression on his face. "We're not going to die. There's just no point to escaping, once she likes you, she'll just keep bringing you back… Not to mention you might have a hard time with her servants."

"So that's it, you're just giving up?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess."

Brusli covered her face and groaned with frustration. She wanted to tell him how much she hated royalty, but at the same time, he was said royalty. Why was it that pompous people generally lacked the same type of motivation for survival as the rest of the general public? Though, Brusli thought as she uncovered her face and peeked down at Conrad, he had been very kind to her, and had stopped the dragon from eating her. He did more than Brusli could say for most. She wasn't sure if that was good, or just plain old sad.

"So, what other 'servants' does Sarlla have?"

"Oh, well, a few. Not all of them are as annoying as Lobran, but, well, they kind of tend to keep to themselves. I only really know about them because Sarlla keeps me around." He looked around. "They're probably watching you right now."

Brusli shivered. "That's really creepy." She hesitantly sat back down next to Conrad. "So, do we just… sit around? Forever?"

"I guess." Conrad hesitated, hands fumbling with each other. For the first time, Brusli got a good look at his hands. They were big and soft, and had callouses on his fingers and palms. He'd be a good baker, she thought. He peeked at her. "Have you ever heard about the curse that's, uh, rumored to be on Sarlla?"

"Mister Conrad, no offense, I've never even _heard_ of Sarlla. I travel around a lot, I don't catch a lot of folklore unless it's for money."

"Oh, huh, okay…" Conrad went quiet for a moment, and then spoke up again. "Well, it's rumored that she used to be human."

" _That_ used to be human?"

"Well, supposedly. Rumors aren't always true." Conrad smiled a little, whether politely or from being amused with himself, Brusli couldn't tell. "It's rumored she used to be a princess, and her servants used to serve her in her castle."

"Gosh, I couldn't imagine why she was cursed," Brusli replied sarcastically. "It's not as if she's really rude or anything."

Conrad shrugged. "That's a bit harsh… Wouldn't you be kind of upset if you were cursed to be a dragon for like, forever?"

Brusli paused and considered, and then nodded, feeling a little guilty. "Yeah, I guess so. She still scared the tar out of me. Continue your story."

Conrad patted her shoulder sympathetically, and then continued. "Well, it's rumored that this one fairy or witch lady or, y'know, someone magical, came up to the castle and asked to stay. And, well, I guess she said no, or was rude or something."

"That's hardly worth cursing someone over," Brusli commented dubiously.

"Yeah, I agree, but she still got cursed and everyone in her castle, too."

"Uh, whatever happened to her family?"

"I'm not really sure. I think, according to the story, they either died or just, I guess, moved into a countryside cottage in shame or something. Having your kid get turned into a dragon because they were rude isn't something to be super proud of, I guess."

Brusli rested her chin into her hand. "If my sister got turned into a dragon no matter what she did, I'd stay with her no matter what, you know? That's stupid."

Conrad shrugged. "It's probably what my family would do to me," he replied, not looking at Brusli. Brusli's face softened, and she looked down.

"Well… That's wrong. Family should love each other and stick together no matter what."

"I guess so."

"So, Conrad…" Brusli turned to look at the prince. They wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon, it was as good a time as any to get to know each other. "What's your family like? What's it like to, y'know, be royalty?"

"Oh, well… It's just me, my brother, and my mom. My dad disappeared when me and my brother were young. Nobody really knows what happened, but it's rumored that he was involved with some servants, or something, and just took off. That's kind of a stupid thing to do, though, since he was king, in my opinion. It's uh, okay being royalty I guess. Everybody kind of has to be nice to you, which is nice sometimes but, well, in the case of my brother, he just thinks that them being nice is proof that he's absolutely perfect in every way and that it gives him an excuse to be an asshole." Conrad crossed his arms, looking bitter for a brief moment. Then, he sighed, and dropped his arms. "I love my brother though, even if he's a butt. And, I mean, being royal means that you get good clothes and food, and you don't have to clean your room. I haven't really made friends with many of the servants, they're just, kind of there, I guess. Sorry, I know you were probably hoping to hear about your sister or something."

Brusli shrugged. "No, it's fine, I guess I was just… hoping to hear she's okay or something."

"You seem like you really care about her."

"Yeah, well… She's my only family, you know? I have to look out for her. She's all I've got and I'm all she's got."

Conrad nodded, quietly. Brusli jumped at the sudden and loud appearance of Lobran and another lizard creature.

"OHHHOHOHH HELLO!"

Brusli grimaced. "Could you, maybe, be a tad quieter."

"Sorry darling! I have to project my voice because that's the only way I feel self worth!"

"That's sad."

"Isn't it! Anyways, I brought some food…" He smirked.

Brusli and Conrad's eyes darted to the chubbier and taller reptile person that stood next to Lobran. His chest, Brusli noticed, was a little more saggy and boob-like, but was clearly male boobs. Disgusting, 0/10, Brusli did not like man boobs she liked woman boobs, would not view again. Maybe if the reptile man was a woman, it'd be a 10/10. His black hair wisped under his ears and tickled his chins, and covered his forehead. It was also worth mentioning that wherever human body hair was able to manifest, it was there. On his chest, on his arms, trailing down his stomach until scales disrupted it. Again, 0/10 would not view again unless on a woman.

Conrad groaned. "Lobran this joke is so old."

Lobran's slitted pupils darted to Brusli. His smirk grew wider. Brusli, nonetheless wiser, asked, "Uh, where's the food?"

Conrad groaned. "Noooo-"

"Ohh, darling, I brought you some _fine_ ass to eat." He smiled wider and the reptile man next to him gave a soft chuckle, although the joke was old, as Conrad claimed.

Brusli furrowed her eyebrows. "Is that a dirty joke."

"Yes," Lobran answered smugly.

"You're disgusting."

"Thank you, darling."

Brusli very much did not ever want to be called "darling" by this little fucking gremlin ever again. She grimaced. "So, did you actually bring real food?"

"What, ass isn't real enough for you?"

"Not the kind you're givin' me."

"Boo. Fine, Aissil has some food."

The reptile next to Lobran pulled his hands out from behind his back. What he held was some type of indescribable meat that, presumably, had been there for a bit. Brusli glanced to Conrad for his opinion, but he gave nothing except a tired sigh. Brusli, however, was hungry enough to eat whatever she was given. After all, crisped lizards were kind of the lowest that she could get aside from eating bodily excretions, so whatever the Aissil lizard guy held must have been a step up from the lizards. Unless, of course, it was lizard meat. Big, gross, lizard meat. Disgusting.

Aissil plopped the meat onto a fresh stone on the ground. By fresh, Brusli meant that it wasn't fresh at all he pretty much just dropped it onto the filthy ground for them. Regardless, Brusli scooted forward, interested in it. Conrad remained where he was, the lazy pompous royal piece of lizard meat. She looked up at Lobran and Aissil.

"You two know how to start a fire?"

"Uhh haha, _no,_ do you?" Lobran replied, with his large annoying smile.

"Yes, I do. You have any dry moss or leaves or twigs or anything?"

Lobran crossed his arms, leaning against Aissil. "I do, but you'll have to do a sexual favor for me to get it."

"You're nasty. Stop that."

"Ugh, okay, I'll go get some moss. Come on, Aissil, you've got good carrying arms."

"I do. I also have some good dick grabbing arms."

"You do! You're great."

Brusli, had bleach been a thing that existed in the medieval times, wanted to bleach her ears out after hearing the exchange between the two lizard guys. She made a face down at the meat, and then glanced at Conrad.

"Are there any servants who aren't, you know, as nasty as those two?"

Conrad perked up, sitting up taller and nodding. "Yeah, I don't think I've met everybody yet, some of the servants are really skiddish, but I think Lobran's really the only nasty guy. Everybody else he interacts with he just kind of rubs off on."

Brusli shuddered. "What about that Aissil guy? He was cute up until the phallic jokes."

"Oh! He's one of my best friends here, he's really fun to talk to one on one. You might like him, his percentage of phallic jokes are way, way lower than Lobran's."

Brusli crossed her arms, sitting back. "Somehow, I don't feel like that's hard to accomplish. Glad you have a friend here, though." She wiggled, glancing in the direction that Lobran and Aissil had left, then looked back at Conrad. "What's the story with you and Sarlla? Are you two friends, or something?"

"Uhh, 'or something' I guess. I'm kind of not here by choice. She's nice, but she's also kind of a dragon, and also kind of scary. I mean, I've watched her devour like four of my knights, so… yeah."

"She was gonna eat me too, huh?"

"Uh! Well, it sure looked like it, haha. She's not really fond of knights, or really, anybody royal. Except me it looks like."

Brusli made a noncommittal noise, watching for the two lizard guys. "I just want out of here, honestly. But, you know, she kinda stomped my armor so it's not like there's anything for me to do once I get out."

"Oh, yeah, you're a mercenary knight, right?" Conrad tipped his head.

"Yeah, it doesn't pay much but it, well, pays a lot more than a lot of other jobs do." Brusli sat up once she saw Lobran and Aissil in the distance returning. "Plus, you get to see a lot of different scenery and do lots of things you wouldn't otherwise do while living in just one place. Like, say, eating crispy desert lizards."

"Ew, you eat desert lizards…?"

"I didn't say I do but, eh, you have to eat what you can to survive in the desert. I've been walking through the desert for the past few weeks."

"Ewww… Isn't there… anything else you can eat?"

"Uh, scorpions, but they don't have a lot of meat on them. They're mostly shell. Also cactuses, but they aren't that tasty."

Conrad's face shriveled up like the crisped lizards that Brusli tended to cook. She giggled, shoulders rising up, and Conrad lit up happily at her giggles. "Let me guess, you haven't had a lot of unconventional foods as a royal prince?"

Conrad smiled. "Uhh, no, definitely not. The riskiest I've gotten is eating mashed potatos."

"You consider that risky?"

"Oh, no, I'm just making an emphasis that I really don't eat anything outside the norm, haha."

"Oh, hah, you should try desert lizard sometime. It's absolutely awful and you'll regret eating it." Brusli grinned at him, crossing her arms.

"Ew no thank you. Maybe Sarlla sensed how many lizards you've eaten and decided to get payback on you. Eat you and see how you like it." Conrad wiggled his eyebrows.

"Uh, interesting theory. I'll get back to you on that." Though, Brusli still smiled.

However, her smile faded as Aissil and the other annoyingly saucy lizard walked up. Aissil dropped a heap of moss down beside the meat. It was a rather large hunk of meat, and Brusli could only wonder where exactly the meat had come from. Judging by how old the meat looked, Brusli figured that Lobran probably didn't know the origin of it either.

Lobran clasped his hands together, looking hopeful. "You wanna share the meat with us when you're done cooking it? Since, after all, we got it for you~"

Brusli shrugged. It was big enough for all four of them to eat comfortably, and probably even big enough to share with others. "I don't see why not. Damn, you got a lot of moss, thank you guys." She was very sincere - albeit finding Lobran annoying, he had been nice enough to fetch meat and moss for them. He wasn't a bad guy, just… not fun to be around.

Brusli started a fire, the same way that she'd done a million times before that. She grabbed some moss and made a fair-sized pile, then surrounded it with large rocks before she grabbed two palm-sized rocks and began striking them together to create sparks over the moss. It didn't take too many strikes to start a fire with the dried moss. Aissil and Lobran sat down in front of her, watching with great interest. She wondered if they'd ever actually seen someone create a fire before.

Out of curiosity, she asked. Lobran and Aissil both looked surprised, and then tittered together. "Oh, no," Lobran answered. "We're far too used to, well, not living in the wild."

"You live in a cave," Brusli flatly pointed out.

"Yes but, well, that doesn't count. Plus, Sarlla breathes fire, so we typically don't need to start one." Lobran glanced at Aissil, who shrugged, looking a tad uncomfortable. Their pregnant silence that followed suggested to Brusli that they had more that they wanted to talk about, but weren't willing to. She didn't push for more conversation.

Brusli dug through the pile of moss for sticks and, happily, found three good-sized sticks that could serve as a structure for a spit roast. There were more sticks in the pile, but Brusli chose the ones that would work best. She set up the structure, carefully, with a bunch of rocks and two of the sticks. Finally, she shoved the stick through the meat (it apparently having been a feat in the eyes of the three boys, as they all gasped and gazed in awe) and then set the meat above the fire. She sat back, crossing her legs over each other.

"Wow, you're really strong," Aissil commented, blinking at Brusli. She shrugged.

"I guess. Comes with the job."

Lobran cocked his head, his smile gone for once and his attitude replaced by pure curiosity. "Being a knight?"

Brusli nodded, and Lobran leaned forward on his arms, his legs crossed similarly to her and his tail resting in Aissil's lap. "Why were you planning to attack Sarlla, anyways? How'd you hear about her?"

Brusli sighed and leaned her head in her hand, watching the fire rather than Lobran. "I've never heard of her, I didn't even know anybody lived in this cave. I was just using the opening as a shelter for the night and then I was going to set off in the morning. I didn't even believe in dragons before this."

"Wow- wait, really?"

Brusli's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Yes, really."

"I asked the same thing, too," Conrad offered, scooting up to sit next to Brusli. She glanced at him, and then went back to watching the flames lick just below the meat. She reached forward and turned the meat over, and all three boys winced as she touched the hot part of the meat. She gave them a confused look.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Aissil asked. "I mean, it was just coated with fire."

Brusli shrugged. "I suppose. Your pain tolerance increases when you're, I guess, constantly getting hurt."

"What kind of knight are you, anyways?" Lobran asked, copying Brusli's head-in-hand pose. It annoyed her a little, but she said nothing about it.

"A knight for hire."

"Ohhh, Aissil used to be one of those-" Lobran paused, and then closed his mouth before saying anything further. He avoided eye contact with Brusli.

Brusli, of course, was already aware of the rumor about a curse being cast on Sarlla and her servants. While Lobran hadn't necessarily confirmed it, it did make Brusli wonder. It wasn't too hard to believe - after all, if dragons had turned out to be real, why not magic as well? However much the man annoyed Brusli, she decided to have some sympathy on him and not press further and embarrass him or stress him.

"Wow, a lizard knight? That must have been a sight to see," Brusli commented humourously, playing dumb as to Lobran's comment.

Lobran's shoulders relaxed and he smiled at her, perking up. "Yeah, he was adorable."

Aissil still seemed uneasy, but nodded. "Yep. Super adorable. Fuzzier than I am now."

"God, I can't imagine that," Conrad laughed. "You're already so fuzzy."

Brusli turned the meat again, stomach growling at the thought of actual meat while she watched the juices from it drip. "Jeeze, I'm so hungry."

Lobran and Aissil nodded on in sympathy. "What have you been eating before this?" Lobran asked.

"Oh, just some crisped lizards," Brusli replied without thinking.

Lobran, being the person he was, gasped dramatically and swooned, falling backwards and forcing Aissil to catch him. "You ate _what_?!"

"I'll eat you too if you don't quit," she told him flatly.

"Oh, yes please~"

Brusli simply squinted at him, not bothering to dignify him with a response. Nasty, nasty lizard man. Nasty. Lobran laughed, tail waving. The meat that Brusli was cooking ended up, admittedly, a little crunchy. She wasn't a chef, although she saw the grossed-out expressions that Conrad did his best to disguise as she cut it up with a sharp rock. She said nothing to him. This was all he was getting, so he could either shut up and take it, or starve. She didn't really care. Well, yes she did, that was a lie, her sister's caring trait had rubbed off on her way too much for her own liking.

After they were done eating, Lobran and Aissil thanked Brusli profusely. She scoffed, crossing her arms. "Doesn't that dragon feed you guys? You're her servants, right?"

Lobran shrugged. "Yes, but, uh, well, when she cooks things they tend to be really crispy. I mean, _really_ crispy. And also kind of tastes like death."

"Augh. Gross. If you or your friends ever want me to make stuff, just ask then, okay?" Brusli smiled kindly.

Lobran and Aissil excitedly nodded. Conrad stood up with Brusli, and he, awkwardly, set a hand down on her shoulder. "Uh, I'm really good at cooking, so I can help too." He smiled nervously at Brusli and she shrugged, kind of picking his hand up off her shoulder.

"Anyways, Conrad, you said you were gonna find some kind of soft room or something?"

Conrad brightened up. "Yeah! It's got a lot of soft stuff. On second thought though, uh, maybe it's best we don't go in there." His shoulders fell. "Sarlla might get mad about a knight going through her stuff. Though! There's a lot of caves and separate rooms in here that she's made, we could probably claim one of them as our's."

Lobran and Aissil busied themselves with cleaning up the moss and sticks and fireplace while they listened to Conrad and Brusli talk. Brusli made a face. "Are there enough that we wouldn't have to share one…?"

"Oh, uh," Conrad blushed. Brusli took a few steps away under the guise of bending over to help Lobran and Aissil, but really was just a little uncomfortable around Conrad. He tried not to look at her butt. He failed, and looked at her butt. It wasn't very remarkable, but he blushed more nonetheless. "Yeah I guess. There's some small caverns. You wanna go look?"

Brusli stood up and piled moss into Lobran's arms and he thanked her. She glanced at Conrad. "Yeah, sure, lead the way."

And, so, Conrad led the way. As Brusli walked along with him, shoulders close together, she was sure that she could hear claws scutter across stone, similar-sounding to Lobran's and Aissil's. When she looked backwards, though, she saw that they were still messing around with moss and sticks. Lobran bopped Aissil on top of his head with a stick. Immature lizard boys. Brusli sighed, a little shaky. She'd been in scarier situations than this, right?

Well, not really. The scariest thing that'd happened her was when she'd accidentally been inducted into a clan of werewolves. She'd come to slay whatever had been bothering the village and ended up being mistaken for a werewolf looking for counseling. She wasn't sure how chainmail and a sword screamed "help me," but apparently it did to that particular group. She'd awkwardly explained her way out of it, nobody had died, and she'd paid them off to leave the village alone. She also happened to show them how to collect berries and kill squirrels, so that they didn't have to steal from village folk anymore. Walking around in a dragon's den with lizardfolk watching her and a prince's every move was a little bit more... scary. Regardless of how kind the lizard people were.

Though, she didn't know if _all_ the lizard people were kind, she'd only met two so far.

Conrad grasped her hand in his as they neared the darker parts of the cave. Without the torches on the wall lit, they could see about as well as a blind man. However, that didn't mean Brusli was happy to hold his hand. Quite the opposite, actually, she didn't like holding anybody's hand but her sister's. Her sister had cute hands, a lot softer than her own. Brusli sighed. The light from the torch was fleeting and soon disappeared as Conrad and she made a turn in the cave.

The sounds of claws skittering across stone followed, and it send shivers up Brusli's back. It reminded her of what Conrad had said earlier, about that the servants were probably watching them. Well, if the scratching sounds said anything, apparently they really _were_ watching them. And following them. Freaky. Brusli kept her shoulder against Conrad's. The cave only became darker, and Brusli became slightly afraid that they'd run into the dragon. However, while they didn't run over the dragon, Brusli tripped and fell over an inconveniently placed, well, _something_. Conrad gasped, as though he were the one that tripped and fell.

"Are you okay?" the prince asked her. Brusli groaned and sat up. Her knees smarted and stung, but she was okay otherwise, except for the bruises that the ground gave her knees and ego.

"Yeah, I guess." Brusli felt around in the dark and felt something rather metal-like. There was a handle- oh, it was a lantern. At least, she was pretty sure it was. She felt it more. Definitely a lantern, and a match sitting next to it on the ground. One of the unseen servants must have put it there in hopes of being helpful. Their tactic worked, sort of, Brusli guessed.

"What are you doing, I can't see you but it sounds like you're messing with something." Brusli heard the prince's feet shuffle.

"Someone left us a lantern, how nice of them."

"Is that what you tripped over?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have known it was there otherwise, so it's all good." Brusli finally got the lantern lit, shaking the match so it wouldn't burn her fingers and dropping it, and then holding up the lantern as she stood up.

The two of them stood in a rather large tunnel, obviously carved out by something - probably Sarlla. There were claw marks on the sides of the tunnel. Brusli looked to Conrad, the lantern barely illuminating his face. He blinked at her, then offered a nervous smile. Brusli held the lantern in front of them, starting to walk again.

"So, what, we just choose a room?" Her voice turned, slightly, nervous. Her last few encounters with the dragon came to mind, striking fear into her chest. Her hand trembled a little and the lantern shook, until Conrad gently took the lantern from her. Brusli pulled her hands to her chest. "Will the dragon be mad about that?"

Conrad shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

His nonchalant tone of voice suggested to Brusli that the prince didn't think it to be as big of a deal as she felt it to be. Then again, the dragon had been rather soft to him, and she was fairly sure he hadn't been threatened to be eaten by the dragon as she had. Still, she said nothing further, instead opting to stop next to a smaller cave opening, one that the dragon could probably just barely squeeze into.

"What about this?" she asked, peeking in. Conrad held the lantern into the smaller room.

"It could be someone's room," he said. Brusli nodded.

They both entered the room, Conrad holding the lantern high so that they could look around. No belongings littered the ground, just rocks. The room was barren. Brusli wondered what Sarlla tended to do in her free time. Obviously she wasn't playing with the prince every waking hour, and she didn't seem to be messing around with her servants. Maybe she dug rooms to pass the time - or slept. Brusli would sleep a lot if she was a dragon, she felt like. She looked to Conrad.

"Do you want to claim it?"

"Do you?"

"Sort of. It's closer to the entrance than anything else."

"Okay, then it's your's. Maybe we should find Lobran and Aissil sometime and get them to collect some more moss for you, so you can keep it in your room."

"Why?"

"You could build more fires. We only have one lantern, and since you got first pick of rooms…"

Brusli raised an eyebrow, but wasn't going to argue. "Okay. Do you want me to come with you to find a room?"

"Nah, I saw another room opening up ahead, I'll just take that one so that you and I are close together. It's kind of nice to have another human being around here."

Brusli grunted in response. She shooed him away with her hand. "Go have fun in your room, I'm going to just, I dunno, check it out."

"You sure you don't want the lantern? I was kind of expecting you to argue."

"No, take it with you, I'll be fine. I'm a knight, remember? I make do." She gave him a pretty convincing grin, not that she felt that confident or sure of herself. Conrad gave her a happy, soft smile back, and then walked out, ducking through the opening just in case, and then walking down the tunnel.

The knight let out a shaky breath. She wasn't sure if she preferred being alone or not. She was used to it. It was also kind of nice, to be alone again for once, but also kind of terrifying, with all of the scraping claw sounds that echoed about the cave. Brusli sat down, crossing her legs and putting her head in her hands. Why was she staying here? Why wasn't she making every effort to escape from this goddamn cave? Everything was dark and cold and spooky. She listened to Conrad's faint footsteps. He was why, she figured, she was staying in this cave. Because she'd feel way too guilty to leave him here, and she knew that it'd be hard to get him out.

She groaned, and the sound of skittering grew closer to her room. Brusli looked up, although she could just barely see in the dark, and made out the shape of some kind of biped that obviously wasn't Conrad. Brusli's heart leaped in her chest, but she didn't make any sudden movements or indicators that she was scared. Even though she actually was kind of scared.

"Um, Miss Knight?" The lizard's voice was very young-sounding. Brusli's expression and posture softened.

"Uh," Miss Knight answered, "yes?"

The lizard padded forward, its small claws scraping against the stone. Once Brusli got a better look, she found that the lizard person was actually very quite small. Something was pressed into her hands. It was metallic and rattled like the lantern she'd picked up earlier - it was cold, though, so she was sure it wasn't Conrad's.

She heard the lizard strike the match, and then blinked as the small room was suddenly illuminated. The small lizard was leaning down in front of her, hands close to the lantern. It blinked at her. It, actually, looked more like a "she," so that was what Brusli went with. The lizard girl gave her a small, shy smile.

"Is that better?" she asked quietly, standing up straight. Everything about her seemed small - her chest was small, her stomach was small, her feet and hands and tail were small. Her hair was a dark brown, it seemed, and was cut shorter than most girls tended to cut their hair, reaching just at her shoulders. It dawned on Brusli that this was probably a child. Wow.

"Oh, yes, thank you very much, miss…?"

The lizard gasped, making a miniscule jump and putting her hands near her mouth. "Oh, Arsoni! Everyone else calls me 'Ari' though, so you can call me that, too!" Her hands lowered to her chest and she smiled at Brusli.

Brusli smiled at the small child. She put a hand out to shake, which Ari excitedly shook. "I'm Brusli," she told the lizard child. She had to wonder, for a moment, which lizards exactly were having sex? She shivered.

"Oh, sorry, I know my hands are really cold sometimes!"

Brusli blushed, and decided to go along with that explanation. One couldn't exactly tell a child that they were shuddering at the thought of lizards going at it with each other. Guh, why was she still thinking about it?! Just the image of- Agh, Lobran and Aissil were all she could imagine. Gross.

"It's fine, this cave is really cold."

"I can ask Sarlla to breathe some fire, if you want?" The child tipped her head and smiled happily.

"Uhh…" Brusli was less than excited to ask Sarlla to do _anything_ , much less ask for some warmth. "Nnnnooo I'm fine. Thank you though, Ari." She gave Ari a small smile.

"Okay! Let me know if I can do anything?" Ari gave Brusli a courteous bow, and then happily skittered out.

Brusli sighed after the girl was gone, and laid down on her back, sprawling out. Maybe she should have kept going for the night, instead of stopping in the cave to sleep.


	3. Feasts and Small Servant Girls

Brusli was awoken by nudging. Not the sweet, loving nudging of a lover or a caring mother in the morning, but more like the annoying, constant nudges of a classmate with an agenda and a big ego shoved down their too-big britches. She peeked her eyes open for the third time that, she assumed, night, squinting at the annoying and nudging assailant. The lantern that had been so kindly given to her by the small lizard girl had burned itself to a dim flame, and barely illuminated anything but the bright eyes of the thing nudging her. Brusli, suddenly realizing who it was, jumped in a startled fashion, quickly sitting up and scooting away.

Sarlla, the big huge dragon whom had almost eaten her earlier, stared at her, her bright eyes seemingly flickering in the dying light.

"Join me for dinner," came the dragon's rough demand. When Brusli squinted past her, she could see the faces of the dragon's servants peering in behind her. She only recognized Lobran's and Ari's faces, or she was pretty sure that that was them. They all kind of looked alike.

"Uh." Was that a request, or a demand? Brusli squinted at the dragon, who was insistent on pressing her face into the knight's. "I don't really want to."

The dragon rumbled at her, threateningly, Brusli thought. "Go ask Conrad," Brusli continued, scooting backwards until her back hit the wall. The stupid thing was probably going to have her for dinner. Plus, she was pretty sure it was past dinner time, but she guessed that it was hard to tell time when you never left the cave.

Brusli saw the silhouette of a servant tug on Sarlla's tail. Sarlla twisted her neck and put her head close to the servant. The servant whispered something along the lines of "Try being polite."

The dragon turned her head, eyes squinting at the knight and smoke huffing from her nostrils. "Please join me for dinner."

"Uh, no."

Fire puffed from the dragon's nostrils and she growled angrily at the knight. "Fine! Be that way! Starve!"

Servants scrambled to get out of Sarlla's way as she stomped out, and Brusli's heart raced in her chest. Was she just stupid, or did she actually want to die, she asked herself. She stared at all of the servants that stared into her room. There must have been at least five of them. All but one scattered, some going after Sarlla, others going the opposite direction. What a life they all must have, Brusli thought to herself.

The lone servant scampered in, and Brusli recognized her as Arsoni.

"Hey, scamp," Brusli greeted shakily. The lizard girl plopped down beside the knight, her claws flexing and stretching out in front of her. Brusli sighed, looking down at her. "Haha, that was scary, huh?"

"Sarlla really means the best," Ari told her quietly, her bright eyes peering up at Brusli.

"Yeah well, meaning the best doesn't always mean that others are going to respond well." Brusli crossed her arms over her chest, resting the back of her head against the stone wall and looking upwards at nothing. "She's also kind of really scary."

"She knows." Ari, even though Brusli had known her for maybe the few hours she'd been asleep, leaned and rested her head against Brusli. Maybe the kid was starved for affection, she didn't know. "You should give her a chance, though."

"Well, she made a pretty bad first impression, and a pretty bad second one too, so she'll have to try really hard for her third." Brusli frowned up at the dark ceiling. "I'm really only here because I'd feel bad if I left that prince guy here all by himself."

Ari wiggled. "You mean Conrad? Sarlla wouldn't hurt him. I'm not really sure he wants to escape anyways."

"Yeah, I figured. Still, though. Guess I've made myself captive." Brusli sighed.

"Well, Sarlla probably wouldn't let you leave if you tried to, if that makes you feel better!"

"It doesn't, thanks."

When the knight peeked down at Ari, the kid smiled happily at her. Why, Brusli didn't know, but she returned the smile nonetheless. Ari hugged her and Brusli sighed once more, patting her back.

"Where's your mom, anyways, kid? Is she one of the lizard servant people?"

"Oh! Yes, she is!" Ari let go of Brusli, bouncing and small tail thumping against the stone. "Mostly everybody is shy around, um, normal people, though. Conrad hasn't even met everybody. So I dunno if you'll meet my mom."

"By all means, that's perfectly fine." Brusli let her hands drop into her lap. "I don't want to stress anybody out."

Ari smiled, a soft expression on her face. She suddenly hopped up, startling the knight. "Oh, can I do anything for you, miss Brusli?" She hopped from one leg to the other. "I can bring you a mattress, or some more light, or some food! You must be starving, I heard from Lobran that you've been traveling through the desert! There's not a lot of food or water out there!"

Brusli's mind took a few moments to comprehend everything the girl had said at a high speed. "Uh… Sure, all of that sounds great." She sheepishly smiled. "Thank you, Ari."

"No problem! I'll be back!" The girl was gone in a flash, and Brusli left alone, again.

She guessed she'd have to start getting used to not really having any privacy. At least when she'd traveled, she'd gotten to spend most of her time alone, and usually had an abundance of time and privacy to herself. Here, in the cave, anybody could walk in and out of her room.

As if proving her point, Conrad came in, holding his lantern which was somehow less dead than Brusli's was. He blinked widely at her. "You okay? I heard Sarlla come in, but wasn't really sure what it was about."

Brusli sighed in an irritated fashion. "Yeah, just peachy. She wanted to have dinner or something."

"Oh, well that's silly, it's in the middle of the night, isn't it?" He hesitated, and then smiled cheekily, eyes squinting. "I guess if you had dinner, it'd be in the middle of the knight."

"What-? Oh." Brusli squinted her eyes back, having suddenly understood it. "You're horrible."

Conrad laughed. "Thanks, I know."

Brusli crossed her arms, a smile crossing her face involuntarily. "The kid lizard was just in here, I guess she wanted to feel helpful. She'll be back with some stuff soon."

"Oh, you mean Ari?" Conrad sat down on the floor in front of Brusli, placing the lantern in between them. The dim fire showed his bright expression. "She's really great - she's one of the first servants that I met."

"Unfortunately, the first person I met was Lobran," Brusli replied.

Conrad smiled and shrugged, resting his hands in his lap. They seemed like baker's hands, Brusli noted for a second time. "Oh, Lobran's not that bad, I guess, just annoying. I think he was trying to impress you."

Brusli snorted. "Sure. He didn't do a very good job, though."

"Yeah, well, I never claimed he was great at what he does."

Ari's head popped into the small cave-room. Conrad's lantern burned brighter than Brusli's dying one, Brusli noticed, and illuminated the lizard girl far better than her's. Ari lugged with her a mattress that was just a bit bigger than herself.

"Is this fine?" she asked, setting the mattress down partially on the stone floor.

"Oh, gosh, yes, thank you." Brusli hopped up to help the girl move it closer to the wall where she had originally been sitting.

"I hope it's okay, most of the servants' mattresses are filled with moss or soft leaves, but it's harder to collect enough for beds quickly so I filled your's with pine straw." She shifted from foot to foot, eager to please.

"Oh my goodness, don't worry at all about it, seriously," Brusli assured the girl, patting her shoulder. "I haven't even had a bed for years, so this is a serious improvement."

Ari smiled bashfully, her tail tucked in between her legs and her cheeks flushed - at least, that's what it looked like. "I can go get the rest of the things now, and bring a few candles and matches for your lantern if you'd like!"

"Um, can I have some stuff, too?" Conrad spoke up quietly, a shy smile on his face.

"OF COURSE!" Ari hugged him as he sat, nuzzling her face into the back of his head. "I'll be back! I'll bring your mattress first, Conrad."

With that, the excitable lizard girl bounded off, determined to be the best servant ever.

"Wow, she's certainly a handful," Brusli remarked as soon as the small servant girl was gone.

"Definitely," Conrad agreed. "But in a good way."

Brusli nodded, taking this chance to test out her new bed. It was a little pokey, but far softer than laying on cold, hard stone. She let out a pleasant sigh that was stopped short as Conrad plopped down on the bed, nearly sitting on her.

"Damn," he remarked. "This is comfy."

"I know, right? Beats sleeping on the ground."

"Oh, man," Conrad replied, looking at Brusli with wide eyes. "You don't know true discomfort until you've slept in a metal cage for two weeks straight."

Brusli gave him a sarcastic look. "Right, because as a knight, I totally have a super comfortable place to sleep every night."

Conrad blushed, his fair-skinned cheeks turning red and an embarrassed smile lighting up his face. "Oops. Sometimes I forget that not everybody is a prince like me."

Brusli snorted. "What a thing to forget."

Laughing, Conrad laid down next to Brusli, his blush becoming worse. Brusli let out a faux-irritated sigh, but smirked afterwards. "What's it like being a prince, anyways? Is it all it's cracked up to be?"

The smile slid from Brusli's face as she turned to face Conrad, one arm holding up her head and the other draped over her side. Conrad lay on his back and turned his head to look at Brusli, his large hands resting on his chest.

"Oh, well…" Conrad fumbled with his shirt's collar. "It's a really privileged lifestyle for sure."

The knight snorted, using her free hand to brush her orange hair out of her freckled face. Her bright teal eyes met Conrad's jade green ones. "Sure," Brusli answered, "there's got to be more to it though, right? Like downsides?"

"Oh, definitely," Conrad agreed, "but, you know, there's a lot more upsides than downsides, at least for me."

"Such as…?"

"Well, I guess the upsides are kind of obvious." Conrad paused, putting a finger on his lips and thinking. "There's servants, of course. They'd probably wipe my butt if I asked them to, not that I would, haha. I get good food, and even if my family dynamic isn't the best, we're still really privileged. As a prince I don't have a lot of duties beyond helping my mom with negotiations and such, since I'm the oldest. She kind of expects me to get married soon, though, and pick a bride from another kingdom."

"Well, do you want to get married?" Brusli asked.

"Um, I guess the thought is nice. I'm a sucker for love, haha, I really love romantic books and stories, but… well, I guess I haven't found the right girl yet." Conrad sighed, shifting his head and looking up at the ceiling. "Sarlla's really nice, and I mean, I've thought about maybe asking her to marry me, but she's also kind of scary. I like her, but… I dunno, maybe if she wasn't as… abrasive."

Brusli raised her eyebrows. "You want to ask a dragon to marry you?"

"What about marriage?" A sudden voice asked.

Conrad and Brusli looked over and saw the small servant girl from before tugging a mattress. A smile was on her face. Conrad made a squawking noise and covered his face, obviously embarrassed. Brusli smirked, teasingly.

"Oh, he's just talking about people he might want to marry." She got up, stepping over Conrad and walking to the lizard girl. "Here, let me help you with that."

Ari wasn't exactly very strong, Brusli found, as she lifted the mattress herself and Ari marveled at her gunpower. Or, Brusli considered, she herself may be very strong. She felt a little flattered that she might be strong, but between a little kid and a soft, chubby prince who probably hadn't ever had to lift much, she didn't have a solid comparison. Ari bounced after Brusli as she carried the mattress to Conrad's room and put it down. She trusted that the prince would move it to where he wanted it to be.

The small servant girl grasped Brusli's hand, bouncing. "Thank you so, so much!" she told the knight. "You're so strong!"

Brusli felt both flattered and strong. She blushed and laughed, petting the girl's head and messing up her hair. "It's no problem. Do you need help doing anything else?"

Now, the girl blushed. "Oh, no, it's fine miss knight! I can handle everything from here, you and Conrad relax!" She hugged the knight around her torso, her head really only coming up to Brusli's chest, and then bounded off again, her tail swishing behind her.

Brusli returned to her own room, only to find that Conrad had taken up the entirety of her bed. She chastised him, sitting down, "Move over, prince."

Conrad scooted, him now being the one against the wall instead of Brusli. The knight laid down, putting her hands behind her bed and bending one of her knees. She looked to him, and he looked to her.

"So, marriage," Brusli began. "You want to marry Sarlla?"

Conrad's face flushed and he let out a nervous giggle. "I'm not sure yet. She's nice, but…"

"But?"

"Well… like I said, she's abrasive."

"And she's also a dragon," Brusli prompted.

"It's not like she's an animal," Conrad said, defending the dragon. "She has her own thoughts and feelings, and she can talk. It's not her fault she's like she is."

Brusli grunted, looking away. He was probably right. She still wasn't sure how he could want to marry a dragon, though. How would the wedding happen? How would the dragon even fit a wedding dress on? The image of Sarlla trying to stuff her massive body into an itty bitty wedding dress made her giggle. Conrad raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask. Instead, he smiled. "So, have you ever thought about marrying anybody?"

"Um, not really," Brusli answered cautiously. People like her were not very… welcome. 'People like her' being those that deviated from the norm. Since she mostly paraded around as a man, of course it wouldn't be seen odd if she married a woman, but she and her sister knew the truth, and now Conrad and the dragon and the servants did, too. She didn't know their stance on things. She kept her eyes away from Conrad.

"I guess when you're traveling around everywhere, it's kind of hard to find a man, huh?" Conrad asked, his eyes wide and curious.

"I suppose," Brusli answered, eyeing the pebbles on the ground beside the bed. "I also suppose that I'm not very interested in the concept of marriage."

She was plenty interested in the concept of marriage, and when marriage was mentioned she imagined the pretty mermaid woman who had given her a locket that she kept in her satchel. He wouldn't let the prince know any of this, of course. Telling him that she was a woman, in her opinion, had been a hasty mistake. However, with how the laws were in Europe, she could never completely live as herself, no matter what she did. She had to take the social customs and expectations and make do as best as she could.

"Huh. I've never met a woman who didn't want to marry," Conrad said, although smiling. "That's alright, though, since you're a knight. It'd be hard to be married while you travel so much, unless you brought your man with you."

Brusli made a noncommittal noise, not looking at him, and decided to change the subject: "Ari should be bringing back some food, huh?"

Conrad perked. "Do you think it'll be the same raw meat that Lobran and Aissil brought?"

"I hope not. Maybe she's getting the dragon to char it." Brusli paused when she heard Conrad's stomach rumble, and then laughed. "You're still hungry?"

Whining, Conrad covered his face. "I'm used to eating more than I've been eating here." He squeaked when Brusli patted his stomach.

"You poor thing," Brusli teased him. Conrad giggled self-consciously.

Ari arrived soon enough, bringing a medium-sized basket with her. Her tail was happily swishing from side to side and she sat the basket down on the ground next to the bed, plopping down and sitting behind it. Her scaley legs stretched out and her claws poked Brusli.

"Hey, scamp," Brusli greeted, sitting up. Conrad eagerly sat up as well, peeking around the red-headed knight.

"Hey Ari!" Conrad greeted. Ari giggled shyly, looking away and pretending not to see him. Conrad snorted. He scooted forward, sitting next to Brusli at the edge of the mattress. "What'd you bring, Ari?"

Ari, determined to be the best servant ever (and also very excited to have a new friend and wanting to impress her), began pulling things from the basket and explaining each thing she'd gotten and why she'd gotten it. Brusli felt fond of this small girl, and let her know that she was proud of her and thankful for all she'd done. Giggles spilled from the girl and she beamed, proud of herself and bright-eyed.

The food had been placed on the floor on a big leaf, mostly just vegetables and fruit and some cooked meat that Brusli was sure Ari had gotten Sarlla to cook for them. What was the relationship between the two, she wondered, and how did their interactions go? Surely the dragon would be fond of the small servant girl, it was almost impossible not to be. Brusli profusely thanked Ari, giving her a hug and offering some food to her. However, Brusli's offers were refused. Apparently Ari had already eaten. Conrad and Brusli both raised an eyebrow, but still let the girl leave once she was finished there.

Both prince and knight had a grand old time engaging themselves with food, as neither had had much to eat in the past weeks. Brusli more so than Conrad, but they were still both starved. The knight wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but she'd dozed off on top of the prince, who had passed out before she did, holding a filled stomach. He was softer than any mattress, she found, and considered that maybe he wasn't that bad of a person after all.


	4. Exploration and Some Tears

This time, Brusli was sure that it was morning time. Or, at the very least, daytime, although it was incredibly difficult to tell exactly what time of day it was when one was stuck in a cave. A small tired noise escaped Brusli and she sat up, feeling more rested and comfortable than she had in possibly years. She looked down at the tubby prince that lay behind her. Ah, that was right, she'd fallen asleep on him. He was very comfortable to sleep on, however she felt slight pity for him, as he had been the one that had gotten slept on. The cave was as dark as ever, Brusli noted, and both her's and Conrad's lanterns had burnt out. Nonetheless, she stood from her bed, taking care to step around the basket that she knew was in front of the mattress.

Oh, nope, she'd thought that she missed it, but she went right ahead and tripped over it regardless, toppling to the floor in a fantastic awakening fashion. However, she didn't feel fantastic at that point, just stupid. The prince jerked up, sleepily blinking at the tangled pile of limbs that was Brusli.

"Oh… hey… you okay?"

The knight was, decidedly, not okay, but she sat up anyways. "I'm fine," she muttered, getting up. "I was just going to go wander around the cave."

"Is that a good idea?" Conrad asked, scooting to the edge of the mattress and planting his feet down on the stone floor. "It's kind of dark...and..." His words lingered, like he wanted to continue, but he didn't.

"Yeah… Well, that's what knights do." Brusli would probably run into the dragon again, sometime. And when she did, she'd hopefully be ready to be on the defensive. Or offensive, if that's what it took. She began walking. "I'll be back later."

"Don't forget your way back here..!"

There wasn't a reply. Brusli's eyes had been given time to adjust to the darkness around her, unfortunately. She disliked darkness, it was… dark, and hard to see. Her hand trailed along the smooth stone wall, although clumps of dirt were knocked off by her calloused skin. If she recalled, the dragon lived down further in the cave, which was to the right of the "room" she and Conrad had stayed in.

It must have been early, Brusli decided. She no longer heard the "click clacks" of an unseen stranger following her in the cave. Maybe all the lizard servants lived further down in these caves as well, although Brusli had no intention to find them. Perhaps, maybe she wasn't allowed down into these parts. Nobody had told her otherwise, but it wasn't her own home. Her footsteps became quieter, her breaths became softer and less audible. There was no perceivable reason to sneak around, she told herself, but "just in case," she would keep herself invisible and inaudible.

She came upon a cave room, to the left, just before a fork in the cave system, that she heard soft snoozing come from. Her eyesight still failed her in the dark, but peering inside, the knight was just able to make out the sleeping figures of maybe three or four servants. Ari's words echoed in Brusli's mind, telling her about the lizard servants being shy. None of them had wronged her, the only person that the knight really had any issues with was the dragon. She decided to let them be. It would have been rude to try and peek in on the lizards anyhow, and would have been risky to sneak in. She didn't want to wake them and, more importantly, she didn't really want to get in trouble either.

Past the lizard caves was a fork, where Brusli flipped a coin in her mind, and decided to go left. What was the worst thing that could happen? Besides, obviously, getting lost and starving to death. Her leather shoes gently papped the ground as she walked, scattering a few pebbles here and there. Metal armor would have been louder, and Brusli realized this, but she still missed the heavy weight on her shoulders. It had been almost like a security blanket - without it, she felt naked and vulnerable. Her heart felt heavy with the memory of her armor. How would she ever get another set?

Rough markings were etched into the walls. At first, Brusli had thought of it as some sort of weird rock pattern, but after rubbing her fingers across the etchings a few times, she had realized the value of them. Although, she couldn't see what the markings on the wall said. She imagined it to say "BEWARE: TURN BACK, DRAGON AHEAD," or something as dramatic. The dragon seemed to have a flair for drama, and this would only be another metaphorical straw on the camel's back. The camel's back seemed to have unending strength, able to take on a fuckton of dramatic metaphorical straw. God damn.

Regardless of what it said, Brusli kept going in the direction she'd originally been travelling. If there was something on the wall, perhaps that meant that something important was up ahead. Maybe something important like the dragon's lair. Her mind began racing; she could fetch her armor and personal belongings, and then leave with the prince. Drag him along, regardless of his protests. She doubted she'd be that strong, however, even with armor on. Well, especially with armor, if she was truthful to herself.

The stone path through the cave brought Brusli to a large cave entrance, where her eyes scanned the darkness that lingered inside. If she was honest with herself, she couldn't see shit. She warily entered, hand on the wall. The heart of the cave was calling out to her, and she could feel it. Her hand left the wall as she slowly traversed through the dark, towards whatever was in the center. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could just barely make out torn furniture, ripped picture frames, broken debris that Brusli had no idea what it belonged to. Her fists curled into themselves and she walked slowly.

Soft, leather footsteps brought her up to a faintly glowing something, encased underneath a glass dome on top of the only unbroken piece of furniture in the room. Perhaps the glowing object had been too bright for Brusli's dark-accustomed eyes at first, but after closer inspection, what she found inside the glass casing was a beautiful and fully blossomed, blood-red rose, floating a few inches above the wooden stand beneath it. Her eyes grew large. Where could the dragon have gotten this? It was obviously magical, somehow. Brusli touched the glass dome, gently, with her fingers. It was pretty.

Her eyes trailed down the stem of the flower to the wooden stand beneath, and rested on the sight of withered petals. Her face softened. She sure as hell had never seen anything like this before, but the flower seemed like, maybe, it was dying. She almost wanted to get a closer look at the flower. There was a handle on top of the glass casing, and it would be easy to lift it off of the flower to look. She hesitated. It wouldn't be right of her to, even if it belonged to the big old mean dragon.

"Get away from there!" came a sudden, panicked roar.

Brusli, startled, lurched forward without thinking. The desk tipped, starting to fall over, but Brusli wrapped her arms around the entire display and pulled it back, hurriedly, to stop it from falling. A sharp, hard blow hit her in the side, sending her flying off and away from the rose's display. She landed on her arm, and felt like she'd crushed it, although she knew a nasty bruise would probably result from it. She hissed, sitting up to check her arm. Skin had been scraped hard off the side of it. Blood and plasma was just beginning to well up in the broken parts of the skin, surrounding small grit and pebbles that had dug itself into her arm.

Her other hand held her arm, and she looked up, wide-eyed and startled at what had flung her away from the flower. The dragon, Sarlla, was preoccupied with checking the rose, her big, sharp claws delicately fixing the glass dome. Brusli was careful not to make any noise, although her arm wished that she could at least make a pained noise. However, her cautiousness did not save her from the dragon turning on her, slanted yellow eyes narrowing and large black pupils turning into slits. The dragon advanced on her. Before the knight was able to attempt escaping, she was pinned to the ground, rocks digging into her back and neck.

" _What_ do you think you were doing?!"

Brusli was, quite honestly, getting tired of being manhandled. Her heart still raced in her chest and her lip still quivered, albeit her sentiment. Large, dragon claws wrapped themselves around her arms and forced her shoulders into the stone. The knight, regardless of all the bravery she'd once had, became a quivering, terrified mess on the ground, helpless and alone.

"I- I was just-"

"You were just _what_?!"

"I just- I just, thought it was pretty- I'm sorry-"

The dragon stared at her, eyes slanted in an angry fashion. Something changed in her voice as she held her head up just a bit higher, her eyes slanting less. Her voice wobbled, slightly. "You thought it was _pretty_?"

"I'm sorry- I didn't know it was your's!" Although, thinking back, who else's could it had been? Brusli cursed herself, attempting to hold back tears that fought to well up in her eyes.

The dragon's grip on her arms loosened, just enough for Brusli to wiggle out of its grasp. The dragon hesitated, its eyes going to its left hand to inspect the blood that had been left behind by Brusli's arm. The dragon's breath caught. "I-"

The knight held her arm, scooting back as much as possible before sitting forward, nursing her arm to herself. She felt almost too afraid to meet the dragons eyes, which were softer and less angry now. More full of surprise, and, from what Brusli could tell, fear. She had to look away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any harm. I was just exploring…"

Well, she'd found the dragon.

Hadn't that been what she'd set out to do?

The dragon stuttered, mostly to itself, then turned and left in a hurry. Brusli sat in the dark, holding her injured arm. It hurt a lot, but it wasn't as bad of an injury as it could have been. A really unfortunate injury would had been if it had broken, snapped, or become dislocated. It could have been shattered, had the dragon thrown her harder. Tears welled in her eyes and her lip quivered, but she forced herself to suck it up. Knights couldn't be crying every time that they got hurt, and she knew that. Even from a young age, regardless of knighthood, she and her sister had both learned that crying solved nothing. Instead of crying, it was better to get out there and solve whatever problem it was that they were crying about.

So, standing up, that was what Brusli was going to do. She would go and fix her problem - her arm, she supposed. That was probably the biggest problem that she had at the moment, aside from having had her, yuck, _feelings_ hurt by a big, stupid, mean dragon.

Although, she didn't remember which way she'd come in. Meaning she would have to feel around the cave walls until she found an exit, and even then, it wasn't guaranteed that that was the one she'd entered through. Brusli began walking in a random direction. As she slowly neared the wall, she found herself shuffling, careful of randomly scattered pieces of broken things, like glass, wood, metal, etc. She bumped her knee into a larger piece of debris. This wasn't going to work. She probably wouldn't be able to reach the wall anyhow with all of the broken furniture and discarded, ruined things in the way.

It didn't matter that much. That's what she told herself. She'd just follow the line of debris around the room instead, and slowly. She'd rather be cursed than trip over something and get another injury. Huffily, she took long, careful strides. It wasn't long before she reached a particular point in the room where she swore she could feel the gentlest breeze touching her injured arm. Her feet shifted in that direction, and as she stepped over broken furniture and debris, she heard a faint, soft tune coming from further along the tunnel.

The tunnel was many times smaller than the one she'd travelled through earlier. Brusli thanked whatever deity that reigned that she wasn't claustrophobic. She kept her hands out, careful of her hurt arm, to the sides. Her fingers gently grazed the rough rock pattern on the sides of the rock tunnel. Had the dragon escaped down this tunnel? It seemed about just the perfect size for the large dragon to squeeze in and out of. Perhaps, the hole had been _made_ for the dragon… by the dragon, of course. Stupid. Dumb. Idiotic.

There was still debris and broken things littering the tunnel, but it cleared out towards the end. The end of the tunnel wasn't any brighter than the beginning, but the soft music was now more audible. It probably could have been playing the entire time, but Brusli wouldn't have been able to hear it without standing directly next to the tunnel it was coming from because it was so quiet.

The notes of the song tinkled sharply, like it was from some music box. It wasn't an immediately recognizable song to Brusli, but it reminded her of when she and her sister were younger. Their mother had owned a handmade music box, handcrafted by their father. He'd presented it to their mother when he'd been one of her suitors, to try and win her heart over. Or, something cheesy like that. Brusli's memory of the origin was vague. However, it had been a pretty music box, personal designs etched into and finished with varnish to make the box look shiny and beautiful. A small, petite figurine with resemblance to their mother would stand up every time the box was opened, slowly turning along with the music.

Brusli didn't know where the box was now, though. Her mother and father were long dead, along with a younger sister of her's, bodies and belongings looted and pillaged long ago by bandits. The house had been set on fire and Brusli and her sister had been forced to escape and begin a new life style.

That had been long ago. It was a quiet, foggy memory for Brusli, by now. She blinked, having been standing at the tunnel's exit for quite a while, just listening to the soft tinkling of the music box. It was nice. Hopefully, it wasn't the dragon's. She didn't really feel like getting slammed to the floor a second time for messing with something, yet again. She followed the sound of the music box, running her hand along the wall.

Her hand bumped into something, and she paused. She moved her and over the something, feeling the edges and the center, and realized that it was a framed… painting of something. She couldn't tell what the subject of it was supposed to be, as she couldn't make it out very well. She did wonder, though. Brusli found herself wishing that she'd brought the lantern from her "room," for exploring. She lingered at the frame for a moment more, then continued following the sound.

Before long, she saw the flickering of what had to be the flame of a lantern or torch reflecting off the wall of the tunnel. The light seemed to showcase its surroundings, or maybe her eyes were just more sensitive to light at the moment. Looking around, she realized that she'd missed turns and run-offs to what could have been good potential exploring material. However, after her run-in with the dragon, she wasn't in a huge hurry to explore places that didn't draw her attention.

She peeked around the corner of the wall, fingers gripping sharp stones that poked out. The small lizard girl from before, Ari, sat on a soft-looking mattress, probably stuffed with mosses and leaves and grasses. A lantern stood off in the corner, next to a beaten-up looking dresser, that had old framed pictures and a cracked ceramic vase that held wilted flowers in it. Ari held a music box not unlike Brusli's mother's in her lap, not exactly toying with the figurine, but holding a finger out to it and watching it with a soft, glazed look. Brusli wasn't very sure that she was actually awake or not.

Not wanting to bother the small girl, Brusli decided to examine the room from where she stood. A framed picture hung on Ari's cave wall; the picture featured a dark-skinned woman with a teenaged boy and young daughter, sitting together. Most paintings that Brusli had seen usually featured rich people, or their servants. The three in the painting all wore servant costumes, and although not smiling, seemed very happy and content with their places in life. Brusli's eyes cut to Ari. Could that be the girl…?

Brusli had never been much the believer in magic, but some things just weren't explainable in any other way.

If that was Ari… well, she guessed she was curious to meet the other two. If… the other two were there. The small girl could very well be orphaned, not unlike the knight herself. Brusli's heart sank, just a little, for the little girl. She was kind and sweet, not unlike Brusli's own little sister, long ago.

However, she found herself backing up, not wanting to disturb the girl. The music box's music was pretty, but not pretty enough to keep the knight hostage near the girl's room. As Brusli backed up, she backed into something solid, and actually managed to wack her injured arm against said solid object pretty good. Ouch. She held her arm, turning around to blink blindly in the dark.

"Why are you spying on my sister?" a tall, dark figure growled. Was this another lizard person?

At the moment, however, Brusli also found herself backing away from the menacing tall figure. Yellow eyes glowed in the dark and Brusli could just barely make out its sharp teeth and claws. Was _this_ thing going to throw her around, too? The knight's legs wanted to give out from underneath her; this was just too much for her right after waking up, she needed to go back to sleep for a little bit. The thing swatted at her, claws nicking her cheek. Instantly, her uninjured hand went up to hold her cheek as she stumbled back.

"Hey, wait-"

The dark figure growled sharply and advanced, swiping at the knight and aiming for her face, evidently. Brusli just barely managed to avoid the swipes, although the second one nicked her cheek again. She felt warm blood trickle down her cheek. Great, more scars for her ugly mug. She ducked down, to get underneath the thing's arms, and rushed past it, arms behind her and legs carrying her as quickly as half-squatted legs could. The thing yelped in surprise, twirling around just in time for its claws to catch Brusli's back. Its claws easily sliced through her thin shirt fabric and left four, long scratches on her back, which she could feel instantly well up with blood.

Why was everything in this damned cave system bound and determined to harm her?! She hadn't wanted anything to do with this cave in the first place! She'd just wanted a good night's sleep and perhaps something to eat besides fried lizards. Maybe this was her punishment for eating lizards; she could be hallucinating somewhere in the middle of the desert, high off of dehydration and fantasizing about big mean lizards beating her up.

As Brusli ran, she ran into her fair share of walls. It was hard to run at full speed in the dark and not miss any walls or corners that jabbed into her arms and sides whenever she turned. She didn't know if the thing was following her - chances were it wasn't, but she also didn't want to give it the chance to give up if it was. She tripped, gasping, over something heavy on the ground, and fell hard to the stone floor. Her elbows and palms failed to catch her in time, leaving her face to impact the floor last. Her nose didn't crunch, and she was sure it wasn't broken, but she felt it suddenly warm up in the nostrils. She'd probably have a nosebleed at the least.

The knight groaned, quietly, as to not make anyone aware of her position. However, her position, currently, hurt like a bitch. She had practically beaten herself up, no help needed from any mean dragons or tall lizards. She pushed herself up, arm muscles trembling. When she went to move her leg, sudden pain shot up from her ankle. Shit, shit, shit. Now all of her was trembling, as she rolled over to sit, and pulled her leg up, carefully. When she rolled her ankle, a tiny hurt sound was forced from her and her hands clamped down on her leg. Shit, now she was really in trouble. She'd twisted or sprained her ankle, running around in the dark like a dumbass chicken with its head cut off.

And, the best part of this situation was that she had no idea where she was, either. Her best

guess was that she'd tripped on some debris. She wasn't even sure if she'd managed to stumble back the way she'd came, or if she'd exited some other way. Her shoulders shook and she scrunched herself up into as tight of a ball as she could manage. This cave was horrible, all she wanted to do was leave and go to her sister. At least her sister knew how to deal with injured ankles. Brusli would be lucky if it wasn't broken. How stupid of her, how stupid of everything.

She didn't even know where she was. All around her was torn up furniture, glass shards and debris scattered over the stony ground. It was cold, on the ground, and it suddenly felt colder to Brusli than anything else she'd felt in a while. She curled up, holding her uninjured leg to her chest and letting her injured leg splay out. Her back ached from the cuts that had been inflicted upon it. Blood dripped down and soaked into her shirt. She'd had the shirt for a long time, and it'd been washed many times. It was already fragile and easy to tear. She had no other shirts than the one that had been in her crushed satchel, that was at the front of the cave. It had probably been stolen or eaten by something already.

Quiet footsteps echoed through the cave. Brusli could just faintly hear claw taps on the stone floor as something, or perhaps, _two_ somethings walked. Great, would these lizard people attack her as well? With all of the unjustified attacks on her recently, she felt like she actually sort of deserved them. She hugged herself, looking in the direction of the steps with pupils that were enlarged in the dark. When she strained her ears, she could hear faint talking amongst the, she assumed, two lizards. She scooted into the debris, sucking her breath in and holding in her pained noises as she tugged her swollen ankle across the stone. Tucking herself into the debris as best she could, she watched as two tall lizards walked towards her hiding spot, tails swishing with each step. They were easily taller than the last one she'd encountered. One was visibly muscular, with a big fat tail behind itself. The other looked more frail and slender. The two were… holding each other's hands, looking at each other with eyes that barely glowed in the dark.

The beefier lizard stopped in its tracks, sniffing and looking around. It mumbled something to what Brusli assumed was its partner. The partner glanced around, also lifting its head to sniff the air around them. They couldn't smell her, right? Self consciously, Brusli pressed her nose into her shoulder and sniffed at it. Well, she… hadn't been able to take a water bath any time recently. Sand had been the only thing available, besides cactus juice. Cactus juice just left her sticky and made sand cling to her even more. Her muscles trembled and she pressed herself into the broken furniture more, trying to hide. It was probably pointless, she faintly realized, because the lizards could probably see in the dark. Better than she could, at least. If not, why would they have little to no lights in the caves?

"Hello?" the beefy lizard called. His voice was deep and scratchy. He had the voice of an authority, or royalty. The royalty that Brusli had met at the castle her sister lived in had had such authoritative tone, especially speaking to lower-class people such as her or her sibling.

Okay, so they'd noticed that she was there. Perhaps, if she stayed very still, they wouldn't be able to detect her. As if they couldn't just sniff out where she was…

The other one spoke in a softer tone, though Brusli was very sure that it was male. "H-Hello? W-We w-w-won't h-hurt you…"

The beefy lizard spoke in a hushed and urgent voice to the other one, waving his hand erratically. Perhaps he was upset that the other one had not wanted to spook the "intruder." Brusli wouldn't ever know. She stared at them. She wanted them to leave, and let her sit there in her own pity-silence. The frail-looking lizard began walking towards her, and Brusli swore that her heart would leap into her throat and out her mouth. That would be gross. Blood would be spilling everywhere and she'd be gagging on her heart cords, or something. Or whatever held her heart in her chest.

"A-A-Are you lost?" The frail lizard kneeled in front of Brusli, who let out an embarrassing whimper as she tried to scoot backwards.

"Oh, hey, you found it." The beefy lizard stood behind the frail one, his muscular arms crossed. Brusli was just a little grossed out at the muscles that stood out underneath his shirt. How would one exercise that often in a dark, damp cave like this?

"W-We w-w-won't hurt you… I-It's a-aright, d-d-darling… I'm L-Leo, this is D-D-Dominic."

The name "Dominic" was familiar to Brusli, but she wasn't sure where she'd heard the name before. He dropped his powerful pose and smiled at her. However, the smile wasn't very reassuring in any case, since his pointy teeth were showing. Brusli still felt self-conscious about her own smell.

"Hi…" she greeted cautiously. "Sorry… I was exploring…"

Leo nodded. "Th-That's u-understandable," he gently told her, "b-but y-you really shouldn't b-be in h-here… O-Our, er, m-master m-m-might f-f-find out, and she w-wouldn't be t-too happy."

"Oh, I've already met Sarlla a few times." Brusli let her legs lower, and showed him her arm. "I got this the last time I met her."

Both lizards gasped at the nasty scrape that Brusli had obtained, and then both were immediately on her, apologizing to and comforting her. Dominic picked her up, bridal style, in his thick arms. Brusli felt uncomfortable, but appreciated the gesture.

"I can walk," the knight quietly protested.

"Oh, are you sure? Alright."

Brusli hadn't expected to actually be unceremoniously dumped onto her feet, but had fully expected the result of it. Her ankle gave out of course, and she fell, yelping. Dominic also yelped, lurching forward in a miserable attempt to catch the knight before she fell into a heap on the ground. He failed fantastically, and Brusli was given her second nosebleed of the day. She was such a lucky girl, wasn't she? She made a tiny noise, and found herself just wanting to curl up there, go to sleep, and try again at life later. Dominic immediately picked her up, being careful of her arm and, now, leg.

"You didn't tell me your ankle was hurt!"

"I didn't actually expect you to put me down…" Brusli was embarrassed and she looked away, her face surely turning a bright red.

"Oh, haha, whoops…" If lizards could blush, Brusli was sure he would have blushed as well.

Leo gently pet Brusli's hair back in what was supposed to be a comforting manner. However, she just wished that everybody would stop touching her. Curling up in a secluded place away from any living beings sounded very ideal for her, currently. She didn't speak her thoughts, though, rather opting to stay quiet and keep her eyes down.

"How did you get in here?" Dominic asked, beginning to walk. Brusli desperately hoped that they weren't taking her to see Sarlla, again. The dragon was the last thing she wanted to see at the moment.

"It wasn't really my fault. I set up camp at the front of the cave and then when I was sleeping, I got taken by the dragon and almost eaten…" Brusli felt uncomfortable having to talk to so many people. As a knight, all she had to do was see what needed killing and then go take care of it. She hadn't taken the job as a way to socialize. "I'm a mercenary knight, but I didn't know dragons actually existed up until now."

"You're a knight?!" both lizards questioned, surprised.

"You're s-s-so y-young, th-though…"

"You're still practically a baby!"

Brusli resented being called a baby. She silently pouted. "It pays for food."

"I suppose… Wow, a knight though. If my son had ever been a knight… I would have been so worried about him. What do your parents think about that?"

"My parents are dead…"

There was an awkward silence between all three as Brusli was carried through the caves. Surely the blood from all her wounds must have been staining Dominic's big, scaly arms, as well as his shirt.

"Oh… I'm… sorry to hear that, young man." Dominic and Leo gave Brusli pity looks.

Brusli didn't bother correcting them. It wouldn't matter in the long run, she figured. She'd get out of here eventually, and when she did, she wouldn't look back. She still felt bad about the prospect of leaving Conrad behind, but if the fool wanted to stay here forever, who was she to take away his, apparently, only pleasure in life?

She shrugged instead of responding. The two lizards traded looks, and then Dominic looked down at the knight with a pitying look. "I can understand loss, though."

Brusli glanced up at him. "What, your parents are dead? Your family?"

Dominic, shyly, nodded. "Er… something like that. I guess I couldn't care less about my father, but my family… Well, you could say I lost them."

"I'm sorry about that." Brusli meant it. She understood the pain that came from losing those dear to oneself. Eye contact was kept between the two for the first time, for just a few seconds. Soon, Brusli pulled her eyes away, looking somewhere else.

The rest of the travel felt long to Brusli. Any attempts at small talk by Leo and Dominic failed, mostly because Brusli wasn't in the mood to talk. She was more so in the mood to sleep, for a long while at this point. They reached some caves that Brusli felt familiar with, although she didn't feel familiar with the caves much at all. She heard running footsteps, and saw the prince running towards them. Unceremoniously, once more, Brusli was dumped by Dominic. This time, into Leo's fragile and cold arms. He wheezed, obviously not able to hold up so much weight. Brusli assumed he probably couldn't hold up more than a rock. His arms trembled beneath her as Dominic fled the opposite way.

Brusli slipped herself out of Leo's arms, clutching at his shoulder to hold herself up on one leg, her other leg pathetically hanging there. He looked at her with a soft expression, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders to help keep her up. Conrad stopped in front of them with big eyes, panting.

"What happened? Brusli, I heard Antemh hurt you…?"

Brusli didn't know who Antemh was. " 'Antemh'...?"

Conrad bent over, catching his breath before he could speak. He gulped down a deep breath. "The tall lizard guy! He hurt you?"

Brusli blinked. "Yeah… It's… not a big deal, though."

"You're bleeding all over the place! You look like you just pillaged and destroyed an entire village!"

"Conrad I'm not a dragon," Brusli said without thinking. Both Conrad and Leo stared at her, then looked away awkwardly. The knight's cheeks flushed. "Sorry… I didn't mean it like that…"

"No, no, I know…" Conrad looked to Brusli. "Um… Sarlla will probably be sending Antemh in to apologize soon. Come with me, I'll bandage you up. Did he do _all_ of that to you?"

The knight shrugged, offering the prince's arms and holding them, limping along the passage with his help. Leo kissed Conrad's forehead and ruffled his hair before leaving, quickly. Brusli guessed that they must have been close, or something. She didn't really feel like questioning it at the moment. She was tired.

Conrad walked her along the cave, back to their room. "Their room"? Brusli guessed they were sharing it, now. It was pleasantly lit up inside, torches on either side of the room lit and happily burning. Brusli had never been happier to see fire. However, it also felt too bright. She squinted against the light, looking down at her one working foot.

"I ran into Sarlla," she told the prince as he sat her down on the mattress. Well, her mattress, she guessed. She saw that Conrad had dragged his own into the room as well. This was more friendly than she'd wanted, but the comfort also felt… nice. She sighed, relaxing against the stone wall that the mattress was placed against, stretching out her legs across the mattress and onto the floor. Bandages were wrapped around the knight's arm and ankle, and then gauze and disinfectant was applied to her back and face.

"You did?" the prince questioned as he fixed Brusli up. "How'd it, um, go?"

"Horrible." Brusli looked away and down at the mattress's sheets. "I saw her… rose. I just got near it and she… y'know, swatted me away. It's where I got the burn on my arm haha…"

Conrad's expression softened. He sat down next to her, his shoulder against her uninjured one. "That happened to me once… Not the burn, she just hit me hard in the stomach and I kind of went flying, haha."

Brusli's lower lip quivered and she kept her gaze down, leaning against Conrad. She avoided looking at Conrad as her eyes filled with tears. She was feeling… stressed, to say the least. Poor her, the big mean dragon hurt her _feelings_. The wounds should have hurt more. Conrad's eyes widened when he looked at her. He hesitated, then shifted and hugged her. His big, soft arms wrapped around her and he pulled her into his soft chest and clothes.

"Hey, it's okay… She'll apologize eventually. She did to me! She gave me some meat and mumbled something and then held me to herself and wouldn't let go of me haha…" He trailed off, looking down at the knight, whose shoulders trembled. "It… It'll be okay."

Brusli was embarrassed to be crying, much less to be crying into the arms of some spoiled prince boy. However, he was quite soft, and didn't seem like he'd be making fun of her anytime soon. She bit her lip, sniffling, and holding in her crying. The hurt feeling in her chest would pass soon. She wasn't sure why she was so hurt by the dragon anyways. Maybe, it'd been because she… actually hadn't been expecting that. It'd scared her badly.

"She's so mean and scary," Brusli whispered. "What's wrong with her? Why can't she just be nice?"

Conrad gently shrugged, holding Brusli. "She's got… some stuff that probably happened to her, you know? Usually people who lash out have um, underlying problems, or something. That's what happened with my dad for a little bit, haha. His dad had always been real mean, and I guess that just got to him for a little bit, and made him mean, too. He got nice again, though. He's, um, gone now, though. So… I guess not too nice…"

Brusli looked up at him sadly. "That sucks."

"It does, haha…" Conrad looked away, sighing. "But, hey uh, haha at least you didn't throw up. When Sarlla swatted me, I threw up! It was kinda cool! It was all green!"

Brusli snorted, then laughed. "Wow, green…"

"Together we'll make pretty colors! Your arm's red and my puke's green haha!" Conrad smiled shyly at the knight, tipping his head. "You… okay, now?"

Brusli smiled and sniffled. She reached up and wiped her face. "Yeah, thanks."


	5. Found Some Meat, Darling

Just as Conrad had predicted, a sort of pathetic form of apology was given to Brusli by Sarlla. It didn't happen right away, no. Mostly, Brusli stuck to the room that she and Conrad had confined themselves to, never going too far from the small room. It wasn't that Brusli was scared, but… well, no, she was sort of scared, but she also didn't want to bother any more servants. A small meeting had been rather forced upon her and the lizard who had attacked her - Antemh, she soon learned his name was. He'd come into Conrad and Brusli's room to apologize, having said something about Sarlla being mad at him for attacking Brusli. With a huff, Brusli denied that Sarlla was concerned about her.

However, Antemh had explained to her he'd thought she was an intruder. Although Brusli hadn't actively been doing anything, she could understand the sentiment behind wanting to protect a loved one; she guessed that he was Ari's older brother. A quiet part of her wondered if he was the older boy in the picture Ari had had hanging up in her room. She'd accepted Antemh's apology, of course. Wounds healed, time passed. Although the scars that Brusli had, she felt, were a little ugly, scars were always supposed to be a source of pride and storytelling. Maybe more storytelling than pride on Brusli's part, however.

Sarlla wiggled her head into the small cave that Brusli and Conrad temporarily called home. It had surprised Brusli, especially since she'd been alone at the time. Sarlla dropped a bunch of things on the ground, rumbling something grumpily. The knight was pressed up against the wall, not in fear but - actually, fuck, she was terrified. She didn't want to get nipped at or swiped at, although she doubted Sarlla could get her paws past her head. Brusli trembled, staying as far back away from the dragon that she could. Sarlla seemed to actually see her for the first time in the dim lantern light, and then frowned at her.

"I was only bringing your things back." She didn't sound happy about it.

Brusli herself wasn't very happy about it either, she thought. As she glanced at her things, she realized that they were all visibly crushed. In turn, her heart felt crushed, as she was reminded about the expensive armor and nice things Pendic and the cute mermaid from long ago had given her - all of it was flattened now. She'd still love it even when broken, but…

The dragon huffed, squeezing her head back out. "There. I apologized."

The redheaded knight slumped down onto the mattress that she and Conrad tended to share, her shoulders and lower lip shaking. When had she become so scared of this dragon? She was used to things hating her and wanting to kill her, so why did this feel so personal? Her hands trembled and she looked away, unable to will herself to say anything.

Sarlla's face dropped a little, the grumpy and annoyed look dripping off of her face like condensation. She watched Brusli scoot forward hesitantly and collect her things, then scramble back to the mattress, as if afraid Sarlla would make a move to attack her. Her claws dug into the stone slightly, creating quiet scratch marks on the ground that the servants would most certainly discover later. Brusli examined her broken things, setting aside the flattened armor and pulling out small items from her bag, all now flattened and crushed, such as flint, a pocketwatch, extra clothes. The bag seemed to catch the knight's attention the most, as she held it in her hands and gently turned it over, inspecting the holes and faded parts dejectedly.

"Is your bag important to you…?" The question felt out of the blue, both to the knight and the dragon. Sarlla's voice was rough as well as hoarse. She rarely talked above a soft voice. She couldn't determine if she actually cared about the knight's bag or not, but… the quiet, persistent feeling of dread and remorse deep in her chest spoke the former of her conflict.

Brusli nodded silently. Her hitched breath was just barely audible, and Sarlla detected hints of… tears? Her heart sunk. The knight wiped at her face before letting her hand return to the bag. "My sister made it for me… it's really important to me."

Now Sarlla felt even worse, her claws curling up and digging into her scaly palms. Her head lowered, a rumble starting in her throat. "I'm sorry."

Before Brusli could respond, Sarlla was gone. The knight hadn't been expecting to carry on any sort of conversation with the dragon, but the atmosphere felt somehow… emptier, once the dragon was gone. Conrad had gone off to talk to some of his lizard friends, and now Brusli felt, honestly, more alone than ever. Curling up on the mattress, Brusli clutched her sister's satchel to her chest, shoulders shaking as she began to cry. Vaguely, she realized that wow, the past couple of days had been very riddled with crying. This entire cave adventure was an emotional ride for her, and unfortunately, Brusli didn't do emotions very well.

A sudden shuffling noise startled Brusli out of her silent cry-fest, her arm rocketing up quickly to wipe off her face. Consequently, she also accidentally punched herself in the face, which hurt a little. Sarlla was back, this time with a handbasket, her mouth holding the handle. She stretched her head into Brusli's room, and dropped it near the mattress. After, she retracted her head, shyly staring at Brusli.

"It's so you can fix your bag…"

Brusli hesitated, studying the basket. There wasn't going to be a hornet's nest in it or something, was there? Sarlla seemed… oddly shy and cowed. With a small, gracious thanks, Brusli leaned forward and gently picked up the basket. It held sewing supplies in it, along with some shears, buttons, fabric, and other fun things. She looked up at Sarlla, who regarded her with a soft look before disappearing, her tail slowly trailing behind her.

The knight dug through the basket, though not roughly. She treated each object inside carefully, as it was not really her's to dig through. The faded red of the hemp linen satchel would be a hard color to match, so Brusli settled on black thread. If anything, the thread would add a little bit of personality to the bag. At least, that was what Pendic, Brusli's sister, would tell her. Her hand traveled a little farther down into the basket and touched what she had at first believed to be just fabric, but it felt too… soft and squishy. Along with the black thread, the knight pulled out what seemed to be a doll. It was not something that would be found in a fine crafts market, but Brusli could not deny the fine handiwork on the doll.

However, the doll had some ripped stitches here and there, as well as a button eye that was dangling by a few loose threads. The "skin" of the doll was a rich brown, and Brusli figured that the dye must have been mixed with mordant. The bright dyes of the clothing, as well as the brown, bold "S" on the front of the doll's dress, told Brusli that this must have been a very pricey doll to make, as mordant and expensive dyes were typically only afforded to nobles and those of higher class. She suddenly felt very conscious about how she was handling the doll, then very carefully laid it on top of the basket's sewing supplies. She didn't want the responsibility of taking care of such a valuable doll… although, she did wonder how Sarlla had acquired it.

Using a needle and the black thread, Brusli set to work patching up her sister's bag as well as some of the clothes that had been slightly torn. Sarlla must have swiveled her foot on top of her belongings, Brusli figured. That would have easily torn and shredded things. Though, Brusli did also feel a little bitter about it. After patching up her own things, Brusli's eyes wandered back to the doll. She considered patching up the doll. If she did though, she'd need to use extreme caution, precision, and above all, make sure the thread matched exactly.

It was worth a risk. Maybe it was something that Sarlla cherished. If it was, Brusli would feel a little bit better giving back to the dragon. Personally, she felt like all she'd done recently was cause trouble, and Sarlla giving her some supplies for her bag made her feel a little better about everything Sarlla had done. Maybe the dragon wasn't heartless after all?

Brusli gingerly picked up the toy doll, inspecting the tears. It was a hardy doll, honestly, but the knight was still afraid of accidentally messing it up. It took significantly longer for her to patch up the few tears and eye on the doll, although it was significantly less to fix than her bag and clothes. With her own belongings, all she'd cared about was having it fixed, not how it looked. But with the doll…

It was a lot of concentrated, intense fingerwork, but Brusli did it. She sewed up the tears and put the eye-button back iwhnto its place, and the best part of all was that it looked almost exactly like the handiwork on the doll. The only way to tell the difference would be to know how it'd look prior to Brusli patching it up. She smiled a little, despite herself, and put the doll back at the bottom of the basket, as a surprise gift. She wasn't exactly sure why she was anticipating Sarlla's response - she hoped she'd find it soon. The knight didn't know how the dragon would respond, but that didn't stop excitement from rising in her chest.

The dragon was back again soon. Maybe Sarlla had misestimated how long it would take to fix her bag. Brusli didn't go hopping right up to the dragon, but she did shyly approach her with the basket.

"Thank you," Brusli quietly told Sarlla, looking up at her with wide eyes.

Although she'd known Sarlla's eyes were yellow, she'd never noticed how pretty they were. Not in a weird way, but just that they had flecks of brown in them, and that Sarlla's pupils seemed to just slightly dilate in time with her deep breathing. Sarlla gently took the basket's handle into her mouth without a word, diverting her eyes away from Brusli's bright teal ones. The knight's hands clasped together and she looked away when the dragon began shambling away into the tunnel.

It wasn't long before Brusli didn't know what to do with herself. There was, honestly, nothing entertaining about being trapped in a cave system in the dark, with nothing to do. All that the knight had for entertainment was sitting on a mattress and doing… nothing. Oh, better idea, she'd switch things up and lay down. Interesting, exciting! Okay, no, not exciting at all. She rolled over onto her side, staring at the dim stone wall. There were large claw marks and scorch marks, assumedly from when the dragon had made the caves. It was obviously not naturally made, unless natural included bigass drags clawing and chomping their way into the Earth.

She wasn't even sure about where Conrad was. Sure, he got to go out and explore with little to no consequences, but the moment she did she got torn up. Brusli preferred traveling through the desert to this - to just lying around lazily. At least when she traveled, she was getting some sort of exercise, getting to breathe in fresh air no matter how dry or hot it was…

Groaning, the knight rolled over. She was feeling antsy just thinking about traveling! At this point in time, she ought to have been out of the desert now and into a jungle. Leaping up, the knight began strolling towards the cave room's opening. Maybe the dragon would let her leave for just a little bit to get some air. Maybe toss around some crappy desert sand. She felt like she was going stir-crazy! She'd fixed up her bag and clothes, and Sarlla's doll; those activities had been great distractions. However, Brusli found herself in need of some sort of stimulation.

The knight did not get too far along in the cave before literally bumping into something solid. Not solid like a rock wall, but solid as in some sort of lizard servant who was incredibly beefy and toned, and probably spent all his free time benchpressing formerly mentioned rock walls. Brusli was jarred, stumbling back and blinking. The caves were too damn dark for her.

"Uh-"

"Oh! Hello, it's you again," the servant greeted warmly. So, it was the lizard guy from before with the weirdly frail lizard.

"Hi…" Brusli fiddled with her hands.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Dom, the beefed up servant lizard, rubbed his incredibly muscular arm. It made an uncomfortable scratching sound on his scales as he rubbed it up and down, and Brusli felt very much awkward.

"So… what were you up to?"

A heat rose up Brusli's face, and she was sure her face was already red underneath her freckles. "Just… exploring."

"Oh haha. Don't let it end up like last time!"

"I'm trying," Brusli muttered, arms crossed and eyes averted. Avoiding looking at the strangely buff lizard man did nothing, however, considering that it was too dark for her to see in the first place.

Unbeknownst to the knight, Dom was able to see her perfectly fine with his reptilian eyes. His pupils were large in the dark - he hadn't seen sun in a good while. It was debateable that he needed it to live but, well, with the depression that had slowly fallen over everybody in the cave, the sun seemed like a reminder of what was impossible to achieve. A trophy of antagonism.

Quiet awkwardness fell upon both the lizard man and young woman, albeit the lizard assuming that she was in fact a he. Not that Brusli minded in the slightest. The knight sighed, looking up at Dom with a red face. If she was going to be stuck with him, she might as well make some conversation. It'd be hard to admit that she was trying to escape, even if it was just temporarily. She wouldn't leave without her things, at least.

"So uh… you just kind of ran off earlier." Was it earlier? Brusli already had a shit sense of time. Without the sun, she was just clueless. For all she knew, that could have been a day ago. She had no idea how long she'd been laying around in her room.

"Oh?" Dom scratched his head, his hand ruffling his blond, slightly unkempt hair.

Brusli hadn't been able to see many of the servants in light, but she wondered if Dom as well had patches of skin peeking through his scales, and patches of hair covering his arms and chest. He wasn't nude or even half nude, like Aissil had been, which Brusli was grateful for. She ended up tipping her head.

"You know, when I got hurt? You dumped me into your, uh, friend's arms and ran off." The knight felt weird exaggerating the "friend" part, not sure what Dom's relationship to Leo was.

"You mean my partner?" This was an incredibly awful exchange. Dom paused, and then nodded. "I'm a little… shy, around Conrad."

"Why's that?" Brusli asked curiously. "He's really kind and soft, even if he's a little weird. I doubt he's weirder than you."

"Well fuck me then I guess, haha," Dom replied self-consciously. His sharp fingers combed through his blond hair. "Uhm. How is Conrad? You're his friend?"

Ignoring his first comment, Brusli nodded. "I'm… his friend, I guess. I haven't known him long, but he's really nice." She looked down at her shoes. She was lucky she still had them. "He's a good friend to have."

A soft expression overcame Dom's face, although Brusli couldn't tell exactly what look he was making. "That's good. I hope he's doing well."

"Why don't you just talk to him?" Brusli tilted her head, watching the tall lizard-human hybrid man with large eyes. "If you want to know about him, I'm sure he'd love to talk to you."

"Haha! No, no, no I can't possibly do that." Dom wrung his hands together, tail curling up. "I definitely can't ever do that. He'd hate me…"

The knight squinted, and then shrugged. She wasn't going to argue, however, she did reply. "He's a nice boy. I doubt he'd hate you, he doesn't even know you. He's too nice to hate anyone."

Dom smiled, despite himself. "You're right, he'd never hate anyone."

Brusli nodded, suddenly feeling awkward again. She clasped her hands together. "So, I'm just going to… go and explore more some-"

"Oh, have you eaten at all?"

Brusli sighed. She wanted to leave and go outside and be free at least for a little while before having to return to the dark caves. "I uhm… ate some meat earlier. I helped Lobran and Aissil cook it-"

"Disgusting! You _ate_ from those two?!"

"Yeah but I cooked it and Conrad kind of helped-"

"Child! You need proper nourishment! Come along with me immediately!"

The lizard's scaly hand was upon Brusli's arm immediately, dragging her along the opposite way of where she wanted to go. Without waiting for her protest, Dom was quickly deep into the cave system. Brusli wasn't aware of where they were going, but he speedily took so many turns that Brusli already felt lost after just a few tunnels. They emerged into a room that smelled vaguely of meat and nuts, and not in the weird way.

"Stay right there and I'll whip you something up to eat," Dom told her.

So, of course, as soon as he was nuts deep in the meat, Brusli began to wander about. The entire cave was slightly larger than the room she and Conrad had claimed for themselves, and was, in fact, a lot chillier than any of the other tunnels or caves. Brusli's best guess was that they were either deep, underneath an underground spring, or both. All of the meat was raw and most likely heavily salted in order to keep the meat from spoiling. Pine nuts were stacked in a large pile, with a smaller pile of berries next to it, although it was still an impressive pile either way.

Brusli looked around, trying to locate Dom. "This is a lot of meat," she told him from across the cave room.

"Yes! I'm aware, I get to prepare it all." Dom's voice was cheerful.

"Uhm, how many of there are you anyways…? Are there a lot?"

"Oh, no, only ten of us. Eleven if you include me."

Brusli sat down on a rock. "I would have figured a dragon would have more servants than just eleven."

"There did used to be more servants," Dom told her matter-of-factly, "but… well, things change I suppose."

A curtain of silence was gently drawn across the room. Brusli fiddled with her hands, wondering exactly what "things" changed. She wouldn't put it past Sarlla to have eaten what servants she'd had. Her shoulders trembled slightly. She wasn't sure how to feel about the dragon, as excited anticipation had been rising up in her chest about the doll, but at the same time she still felt afraid. She directed her eyes to the berry pile, deciding to change the unpleasant subject.

"Who picks the berries?"

"Sarlla does her best." Dom grunted as he lifted a slab of meat onto a rock, taking his time to evaluate it. Brusli wasn't sure what needed to be evaluated. It was food. "But, well, she has those big ol' dragon hands and it's hard to pick berries, or to tell what's good and what's not." He hefted the meat and dropped it onto another pile, walking around to find a better slab, Brusli guessed. "So, we just mostly have nuts and meat. Sometimes moss, but that's not particularly…. fun to work with when trying to make it edible. That's only when winter rolls around."

Fiddling with her hands, Brusli kicked her feet. The soles of her worn down shoes softly plapped against the rock she sat on. "I could help pick some berries," she offered. "I mean, if I can't leave…"

Dom paused. "Well, that's true you're stuck here. Dunno if Sarlla would trust you, but it's always worth asking."

Well, that certainly felt great to have affirmation of being stuck there. Real great. Not. Brusli tried not to sigh irritably, but failed. However, she did so softly, and underneath her breath, as she didn't want to show the nice lizard man her disappointment. "Why am I stuck here exactly?"

"You might tell people." Dom hefted another slab of meat onto his seemingly deemed meat rock. He hesitated, staring down at the meat. "We… can't really have that. We already have enough trouble when Sarlla wants to go and kidnap Conrad for fun haha…"

The knight's fists curled slightly. "I wouldn't tell anyone! I could just go and you'd never see me again."

"It's a vicious cycle, darling." Dom looked at her for the first time in a bit. "If we let you go, you'd tell because of how long we kept you. But we have to keep you because we can't have you go telling."

Brusli supposed she could understand, but she wasn't happy about it. She frowned and watched the stone floor, which unsurprisingly didn't do anything while she studied it. Silence was the only thing that came from her for a while, while Dom searched for… whatever he was looking for. Brusli didn't even know at this point.

Eventually, she did speak up. Her voice only cracked a little, as she had been deeply considering the consequences of her too-long cave visit. "Do you ever plan on letting me go?"

Dom paused, having found the right piece of meat. His claws curled into it, and an answer did not come from him. Instead, his tail waved and he looked oover to Brusli, a sad smile overcoming his solemn expression. "I found some food for you, darling."


	6. It's Okay?

The food was really good, and was almost enough to distract Brusli from the fear of never seeing her sister again, or even getting a glimpse of sunlight. She felt doomed to a life of cave-dwelling, a vampire might as well come and bite her because now there was no point to anything. The buff lizard-man kept glancing at her as he worked on making something else with some of the pine nuts and some salt. Brusli didn't have much interest in what he was making, nor in what he had already made, but ate the food he'd prepared for her out of graciousness.

It was quiet. The prepared meat was very good, and Brusli figured that the lizard servant must have been some sort of chef prior to… well, living in a cave. The knight quietly looked to the man.

"How long have you lived here?"

"Lived where?"

"In these caves."

Dom paused a moment, tapping his lower lip with a claw. "Hmm… I'd say eight years? Maybe a little more or less."

Brusli stared. "Eight years in these caves? Have you been outside at all?"

"A few times, but not many. I used to go out more when we first moved here, but everybody's afraid of villagers finding out where our caves are. It's easier for them to attack when motivated by fear… As I said before, Sarlla kidnapping Conrad constantly doesn't put anybody at ease."

Sitting back, the knight crossed her arms. "How old would that make Sarlla, then? She doesn't seem that old." Although, Brusli wasn't a master at determining the age of dragons in the first place. Weren't they supposed to live for a long time anyways?

"Well, she's twenty-one now, so… she was thirteen when we came here."

"Thirteen?! What the hell? Why did all of you come here?"

Dom looked down at whatever he had been working on. "It's not my business to say. If Sarlla gets comfortable around you, she'll tell you."

Sighing irritably, Brusli crossed her arms. So many damn mysteries that she didn't actually really care about solving. At this point, she just wanted to leave. However, her expression softened. She couldn't imagine living in a cave at thirteen years old, much less living in that same cave for eight years with minimal outside interaction. No wonder Sarlla was so moody. Maybe she just… needed some friends.

Maybe Brusli could be her friend, if Sarlla cleaned up her attitude a little.

Brusli scratched at the ground with her hand, tracing crevices in the stone. "Where does… Sarlla sleep or… live or whatever, anyways? She seems to just kind of come and go as she pleases."

"She wouldn't be very happy if I showed you," Dom told the knight. "She's afraid of intruders coming and killing her in her sleep. Even Conrad doesn't know where she sleeps."

"But… you do?"

"...Well, I do."

"So…. you could show me?"

The lizard made a noise of noncommitment. "Theoretically, yes."

" _Will_ you show me?"

"Mnn. Why do you want to know where she is?"

Brusli fiddled with her hands. "I just… want to talk to her. She let me use her sewing supplies to fix my bag… so, I just wanted to thank her and such…"

Brusli was looked upon with very scrutinizing eyes. Before Dom could say anything, she held both hands up. "I don't have any weapons on me or anything. If you're worried about me attacking her, I don't think my bare hands are going to do anything to her."

Dom sighed. "Alright."

"Alright?"

"Sure, I'll show you where she is."

Brusli leapt up, almost excitedly. She still needed to play it cool. A small part of her felt satisfaction at the fact that Sarlla would probably be annoyed by her arriving in her personal space - served her right. Another part of Brusli was just happy to be able to thank her, and see her reaction about the doll. Her stomach was a bundled mess.

Brusli committed the route to memory, for future reference. Not for anything bad, but, well, if she ever wanted to chat maybe? Maybe. She almost wanted to hold onto the hulking mass of lizard scales, but at the same time, felt weird about wanting to. He was sort of a protective figure, though, and it comforted Brusli whether she liked it or not. Their quiet footsteps echoed a few paces down into the cave. The route didn't take very long to reach Sarlla, and soon they entered a gigantic cavern. Brusli could only see darkness in front of her, but could hear Sarlla's large dragon breathing. The knight lost track of the lizard, walking blindly and glancing around her for Dom.

She stopped cold when she heard shifting, followed by a low, continuous growl. Every nerve in her body froze, her muscles tensing instinctively.

" _What are you doing here._ "

It smelled like sad lizard inside the cavern, was Brusli's immediate thought. Her next thought was simple fear, trained into her. "I- I just…"

Suddenly, Brusli felt like this was the worst idea she'd had. The only thing her mind could think back to was Sarlla's oddly placed rose, wilting and dying in the cave, where Brusli had found it and then had been swatted aside. Like a fruit fly, or some other small bug. The specifics of the bug didn't matter, the point was that Brusli felt absolutely miniscule, and like she could be crushed to death at any moment. She trembled, taking a step back.

"I'm sorry Sarlla." Brusli took another step back, regretting wanting to come talk to Sarlla. How could she talk to something that just wanted her dead?

Dom caught up to Brusli, laying a hand on her shoulder and startling her. She didn't know how she'd lost him. "Sarlla it's okay, she doesn't want to hurt you or anything…"

Brusli still couldn't see worth shit, but the large royal man's hand on her shoulder at least provided her a little sense of protection. Something large bumped into Brusli's chest, which she immediately assumed was attached to Sarlla. A large claw pricked at her shirt, and she was tugged forward by her collar, away from Dom's safety.

"Um-"

" _Hi_." It wasn't a pleasant greeting. Brusli was brought close to Sarlla's face, and flinched when the dragon sent a puff of fire at the wall, lighting a single torch. " _Dominic_. Leave. Please." She sounded the exact opposite of happy.

Brusli's hands instinctively clasped together to fiddle with each other. There went her only source of hope, bowing his head ashamedly and then skittering out of the room. Brusli was left in the large, dimly lit cavern with this large, scary dragon. Her yellow eyes were piercing.

"Um…" Brusli's lower lip trembled. "Please don't um, be mad at him I asked him to take me to you… It wasn't his fault he was just being nice."

The dragon stared at her, frowning intensely, before somewhat relaxing a little, although her browline still furrowed. "What is it that you wanted?" If Brusli wasn't mistaken, she thought she could see wetness just underneath Sarlla's eyes. Had she been crying?

"I- I was just… curious about… what you thought of the doll…" She looked down self-consciously. "I just thought um, as a way to return the favor, I'd fix up your doll for you… Since you let me borrow your things to fix up my stuff…"

Sarlla stared at Brusli, still holding the front of the knight's shirt between her claws. After pausing, she huffed warm, smoky air. "It's… fine. Thank you." Her voice was rough. She didn't sound to happy about it. Brusli peeked at her.

"I'm um, sorry if I overstepped a boundary or something… I know it was kind of risky to fix it up, since I understand the feeling of not liking people touching your things um, I'm sorry, S-Sarlla." Brusli really did genuinely feel sorry if she messed up. She'd just wanted to do something good.

The dragon blinked at her, and then turned her head, lowering her claws from Brusli's shirt. Brusli was free to go, if she'd really wanted to leave. A sense of awkwardness lowered between the two. This was the first time Brusli had actually felt a little equal to Sarlla, which was really weird considering that Sarlla was a gigantic dragon. Her fists clenched and unclenched, and then she lowered her arms.

"I, uh... Mm." Brusli hesitated, then sat down next to the palm of Sarlla's paw. Hand? Claw? She glanced at it, but it didn't move. Looking back at Sarlla, she sighed gently. "Um… So uh, Dom said that… you've all been here since you were thirteen? I um, couldn't imagine that… that had to really… suck."

The conversation was almost as if Brusli was having a casual chat with a brick wall. Sarlla rumbled, her eyes glancing at Brusli. "It sucked a lot," she mumbled, her chin resting on her other paw.

Brusli brightened up, just a little. A nervous, cold sweat covered the back of her neck. "If it's okay to ask, how did you all… get into this situation?" She paused. "Nobody else really seems that old…"

Sarlla avoided looking at the knight. "It's a long story. You wouldn't want to listen."

"Oh no, I'm um, really open to listening. It isn't as if I'm going anywhere anytime soon…"

A flash of guilt plagued Sarlla's face for the briefest of moments, before she shut her eyes. "Do you believe in witches? I know that you didn't believe in dragons before me."

"Um, I guess if dragons can be real, witches can be real." Brusli tilted her head. "Um, why do you ask?"

Bitterly, Sarlla answered: "Because all of this is a witch's fault. Well, no, mostly my fault, too. I was a cocky thirteen year old princess, who thought she had all the world figured out for herself."

Brusli's eyes widened. "A princess? You?!"

The dragon snorted. "Surprisingly, yes. I don't seem to princess-y, huh? But… yeah. Have you ever read that old 'Beauty and the Beast' tale? Apparently the nasty old hag who cursed all of us did, and apparently she _loooved_ that story, because that's how my curse is. The old hag came up to our castle doors - and, well, my da's kingdom wasn't a really large kingdom. It didn't really even deserve to be called a kingdom, but we had a small population of loyal subjects and loyal servants, some of who live in the cave with me. When I answered the door and saw some ugly old lady standing outside in the rain, saying that if I didn't let her in she'd do something _horrible_ , of course I didn't let her in. But I also let my big fat thirteen year old mouth run at her as well.

"She didn't take kindly to it. In fact, she didn't take kindly to anything about me or, apparently, my home. She said as punishment, for not letting some nasty old witch like herself into our castle, she'd turn me into 'a monster that reflected my insides,' as well as those that I cared about. My da and sister managed to escape the curse, as well as a good majority of the servants, but all the servants that I was close with… All got turned into the creatures you've been interacting with since you've gotten here. And, out of shame, I fled home with everybody. Our once loyal subjects and servants now turned on all of us, casting us out as quickly as they could with torches and pitchforks, threatening to kill all of us hideous monsters… and, I guess as a final after touch by the witch, I found out a few years later out of observation that I'm the only one here who ages. Everybody else has been stuck at the same age and mentality for eight years."

Brusli stared, soaking in the story. It definitely did feel like some sort of fairytale from a distant book, written in some far off land. Definitely not anything that could be reality, right? Brusli's hands clamped over the fabric of her pants.

"Sarlla… I'm so sorry." The knight's shoulders shook. She couldn't imagine how awful it must have felt to have been the cause of her loved ones' suffering… it was hard enough in her experience having her own parents and little sister die, let alone imagining a scenario where it had been _her_ fault. Though… it hadn't been Sarlla's fault entirely. "Did the… witch, ever tell you how to fix the curse?"

" _True love's kiss_ ," Sarlla told her, mockingly. "Isn't that great? Because who would ever want to kiss such a hideous beast, a _dragon_?"

Brusli kept eye contact with Sarlla. "Would a kiss from one of your servants count…? They love you and you love them, right?"

Sarlla shook her head, huffing. Smoke drifted in the air. "I've tried. Apparently the witch was a huge ol' sucker for romance stories. She's probably sitting at home, watching my whole life on display while kicking back and enjoying popcorn or something…" Her free claw clenched, startling Brusli. The claw only barely missed her clothes. " _Damn_ her."

"Sarlla…?"

The dragon's shoulders shook, as well as her lower jaw. Wetness filled Sarlla's eyes, turning them glossy. " _Damn her_."

"I.. Sarlla…" Brusli hesitated, her hands shaky, then gently put her hands on Sarlla's large claw. "It's okay…"

Sarlla only calmed down a few notches. She hid her face in the elbow of her scaly arm, obviously crying. "It's not okay. Do you know I only have a few months until this is all permanent? On my 22nd birthday, I'm going to be stuck like this forever, as will all my servants. And it's _all my fault_ , Brusli."

Brusli felt awful, even if she hadn't played a part in Sarlla's curse. She didn't know what else to do, so she carefully scooted forward to Sarlla's head, which was larger than she was. She leaned on it and gently pet the dragon's scales. "I'm sorry… It'll be okay, Sarlla. You'll figure something out."

The dragon flinched at Brusli's initial touch, which sunk the knight's heart lower. However, after a few gentle pets, Sarlla pressed her nose into Brusli's stomach, whimpering and crying miserably. "I'm so sorry for how I've been treating you, I've been frustrated. It's been so hard, I've been hoping that maybe Conrad would be 'the one' to break the curse, and then you come along, and… and, I don't know. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

Well, Brusli hadn't been expecting any apologies to begin with, but she immediately forgave Sarlla anyways. She sighed shakily, leaning over Sarlla's nose and hugging her snout, petting her scales. Large tear drops dripped down Sarlla's cheeks and onto the floor, where they practically left puddles.

"It's okay," Brusli quietly told her. "I understand, I forgive you… It's okay."

And even though Sarlla was crying, it actually kind of did feel like it was okay.


End file.
